Government

Two more servicers have been added to the government’s list of mortgage companies officially under contract to provide federal loan modifications through its Home Affordable Modification Program — Carrington Mortgage Services, of Santa Ana, California, and Aurora Loan Services of Littleton, Colorado.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act (H.R. 1728) on Thursday, by a vote of 300 to 114. Lawmakers say the legislation is intended to protect homeowners and the nation’s economy from the questionable and predatory lending practices that have led to record home foreclosures and triggered the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

The Mortgage Investors Coalition (MIC) issued a statement this week commending the efforts of the House and Senate in formulating changes to the Hope for Homeowners (H4H) program. The organization said the revisions made to the program will allow for more homeowners to obtain permanent, low-cost, fixed-rate home financing and pledged the investment community’s full support for the initiative.

The Senate passed the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act by a 91 to 5 vote on Wednesday, after shooting down the bill’s bankruptcy cramdown amendment last week. The legislation provides mortgage servicers with a safe harbor from investor lawsuits, expands HUD’s Hope for Homeowners (H4H) program, increases funding for foreclosure prevention efforts, establishes foreclosure protections for renters, and increases the FDIC’s line of credit with the Treasury to $100 billion.

Freddie Mac released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey on Thursday, which showed that mortgage interest rates rose this week for both long- and short- term home loan products. The GSE attributed the increase to recently issued reports which signaled optimism that the national economy may be starting to turn around.

Lenders One Mortgage Cooperative, a national alliance of mortgage bankers, announced Tuesday that one of its members – Iowa-based Dubuque Bank & Trust (DB&T) – was the first institution in the country to sell a Refi Plus loan to Fannie Mae under the administration’s Home Affordable Refinance Program.

Banks continued to tighten lending standards during the first quarter of the year, according to the Federal Reserve’s senior loan officer survey published on Monday. The central bank’s first quarter lending review showed that 50 percent of U.

Regulators were supposed to release the findings of their stress tests on the nation’s largest lenders today, May 4, but the Federal Reserve is postponing the public announcement until later this week, presumably Thursday.

Jacksonville, Florida’s Lender Processing Services (LPS), Inc. released its latest LPS Mortgage Monitor this week, which provides mortgage industry performance indicators as of March month-end. Among the findings, LPS reported that the number of newly delinquent loans declined in March to 7.

The first 100 days of President Barack Obama’s administration have been marked by pressure to stabilize and reverse the nation’s financial crisis, and in doing so, establish regulatory reform within the financial and lending communities.