News

The Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) announced Christopher Tumbaga of Colorado Spring, Colorado pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud and to one count of illegally receiving kickbacks for procuring loans.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) released a report Thursday, highlighting the performance of first-lien mortgages serviced by large national and federal banks continued to improve in the fourth quarter of 2013. The OCC Mortgage Metrics Report for the Fourth Quarter of 2013 found 91.8 percent of mortgages were currently performing, up slightly from 91.4 percent in Q3 2013.

PEMCO Limited announced Marcia Toms as the 6th recipient of the Women in Diversified Services (WinDS) Leadership Award. Toms serves as the 1A project manager for PEMCO Limited, and is the president of the WinDS Foundation.

Recovery in the housing market is stumbling back to solid ground, thanks to a rise in home prices and existing home sales, as well as a drop in foreclosures, according to the latest Housing Barometer report released Wednesday by Trulia.

After losing 32,000 jobs in January, nonfarm employment rebounded in February, adding 58,800 jobs in February, according to the Wells Fargo Economics Group. February's increase reflected a 2.3 percent growth over the past year, creating a net gain of 345,600 jobs.

In a press release issued by Fitch Ratings, the company comments that the past year has seen a "sea change" in who is servicing severely delinquent U.S. mortgage loans—and how they are being serviced. Fitch found that 2013 saw many portfolios of non-agency residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) mortgage servicing rights (MSR) move from banks to non-bank servicers.

Housing markets in half of all states and 35 of the top 50 metros are improving, according to a new report from Freddie Mac. However, only 11 states and four of the top 50 metros are "stable" compared to each market’s individual historical norms, Freddie Mac reported.

U.S. residential sale volume decreased in February, with distressed sales and investor purchases also pulling back for the month. RealtyTrac's February 2014 Residential & Foreclosure Sales Report found that U.S. residential properties slid .2 percent from January, but remain up 7 percent from the same time period a year ago.

Bank of America has agreed to a multibillion settlement with the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to resolve allegations of securities fraud. According to announcements made by all parties involved, under the agreement, BofA will make an aggregate payment of approximately $9.33 billion, $3.2 billion of which will go toward the repurchase of certain RMBS at fair market value.

In an effort to give greater attention to what the company says is an “underserved” market, Carrington Mortgage Services announced Monday its intent to put a tighter focus on borrowers with credit scores in the sub-640 range.