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Regulators Shut Doors on Four Banks

Last week came and went without the typical news of several FDIC-assisted bank closures, but the reprieve was short-lived. This weekend, regulators shut down four institutions - one each in California, Florida, Illinois, and Texas. These latest bring the number of failures on the FDIC's list to 20 for the year, and nearly all of the crashes have been linked in some way to bad mortgages or construction and development lending.

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Mortgage Insurers Receive GSE Approval

Fannie Mae has approved four new mortgage insurers to provide mortgage insurance for conventional first mortgage loans, according to a lender letter released Thursday. Two of these mortgage insurers also received approval to do business with Freddie Mac.

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Obama Pledges $1.5B for Unemployed and Underwater Homeowners

The administration unveiled a new initiative to help the nation's hardest hit housing markets. President Obama is allocating $1.5 billion for states where unemployment is high and home prices have fallen more than 20 percent. While national indicators point to housing stabilization, local conditions vary considerably. Obama is setting up an ""innovation fund"" for state agencies to develop their own loan modification assistance programs for underwater and unemployed homeowners.

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Wells Fargo Doubles Permanent HAMP Modifications

Wells Fargo & Co. announced Wednesday that as of January 31, 2010, it had 137,128 active trial and completed modifications in place under the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). Of these, 17,652 were permanent modifications--double the number of permanent modifications reported as of the end of December, and 7,554 were permanent modifications pending completion.

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Retreat Capital’s New Offerings Address Short Sales and HAMP Hurdles

Retreat Capital Management Group has added a number of new solutions to its offerings that the company says will address servicers' largest obstacles in completing short sales and modifications under the federal government's foreclosure prevention programs, including short sale processing and document pick-up.

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TriNovus Introduces Solution for Bank Compliance With SAFE Act Regulations

The launch of StartSAFE, a comprehensive solution to aid banks in meeting the compliance requirements of the Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act (SAFE Act), was announced Wednesday by TriNovus, LLC, a Birmingham, Alabama-based company focused on delivering relevant technology solutions to the financial marketplace.

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GSEs’ Delinquency Buybacks Create Capital Need

The nation's two largest mortgage financiers have been stuck in the red for some time, and they regularly require cash draws from the Treasury to stay afloat. The GSEs' recent announcements to buy back some $200 billion in seriously delinquent loans from mortgage-backed securities holders over the next few months mean they'll have to come up with some extra cash fast. Analysts at Barclays Capital estimate that Freddie Mac will need to sell off $10 billion to $20 billion of its debt to fund the purchases, while Fannie Mae will need to raise about $60 billion.

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FHFA Proposes New Housing Goals for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has sent a proposed rule to the Federal Register establishing new housing goals for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) gave FHFA authority to establish annual performance goals for the two mortgage giants. These goals set the minimum percentage of mortgage acquisitions by the GSEs for certain borrower income groups.

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New FHA Appraisal Guidelines Take Effect

The new Appraiser Independence requirements for Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans officially took effect February 15, 2010. Originally planned for a January 1 implementation, the enactment was delayed to provide the FHA and lenders with additional time to adjust systems to accommodate the changes. The new rules are similar the the GSEs' HVCC, and market participants are expecting the same type of pushback to surface.

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Servicers Nearly Double Permanent HAMP Modifications

Mortgage servicers have significantly stepped up efforts to convert trial modifications to permanent status under the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), nearly doubling the number in just one month's time. The U.S. Treasury released its January report card Wednesday and it showed that 116,297 homeowners are now in permanent modifications. Another 76,482 have been extended offers for a permanent restructuring, needing only the borrower's signature to complete the conversion. The Treasury said the data ""marked record progress.""

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