News

The number of residential mortgage borrowers in a negative equity position during January 2015 was reported at slightly more than four million, which is a decline of 29 percent from the same period in 2014, according to Black Knight's March 2015 Mortgage Monitor released Monday.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has issued a memo announcing the rescinding of a mortgagee letter written in January that would have allowed reverse mortgage lenders the option of delaying foreclosure proceedings on surviving non-borrowing spouses.

Compliance by states that do have an AMC regulatory body begins one year from the day the new regulations go live, which would put the deadline at the beginning of Q3 2016, according to FHFA. Compliance means adopting minimum registration and supervisory protocols for AMCs, including those that are subsidiaries of federally insured depository institutions.

Counsel's Corner is an ongoing series in which DS News talks with default servicing attorneys around the country about the most pressing issues facing the default servicing industry. This installment features Marlon Bates of Salt Lake City-based Scalley Reading Bates Hansen & Rasmussen.

Fannie Mae's gross mortgage portfolio has now expanded in two of the last three months following an increase at a compound annualized rate of 7.8 percent in March, according to Fannie Mae's March 2015 Monthly Volume Summary released Thursday.

"I am proud of what we have accomplished as far as managing the business through this difficult transition period. We made great progress on our asset sale strategy, have returned to profitability and continue to generate substantial operating cash flow," said Ron Faris, President and CEO of Ocwen. "However, I am not satisfied with only making $34 million in the quarter. We intend to do better."

Philadelphia-based Radian reported $9.4 billion in new mortgage insurance written (NIW) and $172.1 billion in total primary mortgage insurance in force during Q1, according to the company's First Quarter 2015 Financial Results released Thursday.

The new THUD Appropriations bill would essentially eliminate the Housing Trust Fund but would instead direct GSE money into the HOME Investment Partnerships Program, which is a federal block grant that provides states and localities with a flexible funding source to meet their diverse affordable housing needs.

The Dodd-Frank Act Stress Tests (DFAST) – Severely Adverse Scenario report indicated that the two GSEs would need a second taxpayer bailout, this time of up to $157.3 billion, under hypothetical adverse economic conditions that included a rise in the nation's unemployment level up to 10 percent by the middle of 2016; a decline in real GDP as large as 4.5 percent by the end of 2015 before recovery begins in 2016; and long term interest rates drop significantly while short-term rates remain near zero.

Safeguard's major innovations recently include the industry's first Mobile Inspections Quality Control suite, designed to reduce risks, expedite results that are reported from the field, and improve the quality of information provided to Safeguard's clients.