Loss Mitigation

Dr. Dennis Capozza, founder of Ann Arbor, Michigan-based University Financial Associates (UFA), has spent the last 30 years predicting cycles in the mortgage industry. Dr. Capozza’s research and experience have been automated in a scoring system called ForeScore for more than a decade, and last week, UFA announced that lenders, investors, and regulators can now access the ForeScore system and supporting analytics via an integrated Web services platform.

The Treasury announced new initiatives under the administration’s Making Home Affordable program late last week to provide additional options for homeowners facing foreclosure. The first of the two new program components is intended to help borrowers obtain modifications in those markets experiencing severe home price declines.

Huntington Bank and Columbus Housing Partnership have joined forces to stabilize homeownership in Central Ohio. The two have formed the Huntington Homeownership Alliance, a three-year, $10 million project that will provide the area’s residents with homeownership counseling, foreclosure avoidance services, and more affordable mortgages.

In late April, Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster launched a zero tolerance campaign against mortgage scams in his state, pledging he will aggressively investigate any suspicion of mortgage deception and use all means in the legal system to prosecute and shut them down or end their deceptive practices.

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.

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 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.

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.

The government has said its Home Affordable Refinance Program will lower monthly mortgage payments for four to five million homeowners. The initiative targets those home loans that are held by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the administration has expanded the eligibility pool by allowing borrowers to refinance even if they owe 5 percent more than the home’s current market value.

Green Tree Servicing LLC, of St. Paul, Minnesota, has joined the growing list of mortgage companies officially under contract to provide federal loan modifications through the government’s Home Affordable Modification Program.