Loss Mitigation

Even though the number of foreclosure filings has risen dramatically in recent months in some parts of the country--specifically in judicial states--the ratings agency DBRS expects the total number of foreclosure filings to show evidence of a steady decline in 2013 when compared to 2012. This is due to ""the record number of servicers that are using short sales as their primary loss mitigation tool to prevent delinquent loans from entering foreclosure,"" the agency's analysts said in a research note issued Monday.

August data from HOPE NOW revealed mortgage servicers gave an estimated 75,968 homeowners permanent loan modifications during the month. In July, total loan modifications was higher at 82,679. HOPE NOW also reported the industry has seen 5.75 million loan modifications since 2007. Of those modifications, about 4.68 million were proprietary loan modifications, while more than 1 million were from HAMP.

The American Civil Liberties Union announced it has filed a suit against Morgan Stanley on the grounds of loan discrimination. The complaint filed by the ACLU, the National Consumer Law Center, and Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein alleges Morgan Stanley discriminated against black homeowners and violated civil rights laws by providing incentives to a subprime lender to originate mortgages that were likely to be foreclosed on.

A Manhattan real estate attorney was sentenced to 51 months in prison for his role in a $9 million mortgage fraud scheme, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara announced Friday. U.S. District Judge Naomi R. Buchwald sentenced Eric Finger, 47, of Mineola, New York, in Manhattan federal court. Through Finger's scheme, he and his co-conspirators fraudulently obtained more than $9 million in mortgage loans to purchase dozens of residential properties throughout New York City and Long Island, with most of the loans going into default, according to a release.

Although the improvement was slight, the drop in the delinquency rate for commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) in September was still an improvement, and the decline marks the fourth straight monthly drop, Fitch Ratings reported Friday. The CMBS delinquency rate fell to 8.37 percent from August's 8.39 percent.

It was no surprise when mortgage rates dropped in the weeks following the Fed's announcement that it would purchase $40 billion of agency mortgage-backed securities (MBS) each month until the labor market shows substantial improvement. Even with the record-low mortgage rates seen today, refinancing numbers are still not as high as expected. CoreLogic and Capital Economics highlighted different factors for the lack of refinancings in separate reports.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released to the public a letter urging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to avoid proposals that may lead to unforeseen and unintended consequences harmful to the industry. In a letter published on the association's site, MBA president and CEO David Stevens urges CFPB to consider both borrower needs and servicer limitations when designing mortgage industry regulations. Specifically, Stevens asks CFPB to limit its rulemaking to the mandates required by the Dodd-Frank Act and to use its exemption authority to remove ""unduly burdensome"" requirements.

Rep. Jim Costa (D-Fresno) introduced a House companion for the Responsible Homeowner Refinancing Act, which seeks to cut through red tape in homeowner refinancing to make the option more broadly available.

Radian Guaranty Inc. wrote $3.54 billion in new mortgage insurance in September, the company reported Wednesday. The mortgage insurer started off with 94,823 delinquent loans in September and ended with more loans, 94,831, in delinquency.

Foreclosure starts fell dramatically in all five West Coast states tracked by Foreclosure Radar, further confirming suspicions that a foreclosure wave may not arrive. ""The continued decline in Foreclosure Starts clearly shows that even though servicers are now apparently in compliance and clear to move forward with foreclosures, they are still in no rush to foreclose on the majority of delinquent borrowers,"" said Sean O'Toole, CEO of ForeclosureRadar.