News

Homeowner Reward Co., a subsidiary of The PMI Group, Inc. is launching a pilot program aimed at supporting sustainable homeownership in some of the nation's hard-hid markets. The program helps underwater homeowners.

Senator Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, announced an investigation of mortgage servicers Monday. The investigation will be conducted through the Senate Judiciary Committee and will examine foreclosure policies and procedures at top mortgage servicers. ""The rate of foreclosure and families that struggle with their mortgage payments is one of the single largest barriers to economic recovery that we still see today,"" Blumenthal says.

There are a growing number of distressed commercial real estate assets trading as bank regulators put more pressure on lenders to deal with nonperforming loans, according to Price waterhouseCoopers LLP.

Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, submitted a resolution (H.Res. 344) calling for a temporary foreclosure moratorium to the House Financial Services Committee Friday. ""[T]he United States finds its housing market in a precarious and unstable state, where homeowners' mortgage balances are routinely larger than the current value of their homes and where people are losing their homes at an alarming rate,"" Kaptur states in the resolution. Kaptur notes that in April 2011, there were 219,000 new foreclosures, 7,300 each day.

Putting struggling borrowers into mortgages with more manageable monthly payments via a loan modification is a key element of the industry's effort to cut the nation's foreclosure crisis short. A recent study by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) took a look at loan performance post-modification. The regulators found that more recent modifications have performed better than earlier modifications, reflecting an increasing emphasis on lower monthly payments and sustainability.

Commerce Velocity, based in Irvine, California, has updated their Optimizer solution to better assist servicers as they comply with new industry requirements. The updates were designed to ensure timeliness, provide comprehensive audit trails, and allow for clear communication between loss mitigation and foreclosure departments. Commerce Velocity President Umesh Verma says, ""The sheer scale of loans in default or foreclosure, each requiring and deserving detailed attention, has been a major challenge for servicers to manage.""

One year after the passage of the Dodd-Frank Act, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Massachusetts, speaks out with criticism for Republicans and industry participants who oppose the law or wish to change it. Frank's criticisms for Republicans include disapproval of their attempts to alter the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Maintaining that risk retention is the most important part of the bill, Frank also censured industry members who oppose the proposed qualified residential mortgage (QRM) definition.

The FDIC has filed suit against former IndyMAC Bancorp Inc. CEO Michael Perry for $600 million in losses caused by risky mortgage loans. The FDIC accuses Perry of purchasing $10 billion in risky residential loans.

Foreclosure sales declined for the second straight month, while foreclosure starts increased, according to HOPE NOW. Foreclosure sales nationwide decreased 7 percent from 73,000 in April to 68,000 in May.

As the second year of CMBS 2.0 begins, credit ratings agencies say they are taking stock of where credit quality stands and where it may be headed from here. With that assessment, conflicting views persist on the strength of the underwriting behind new commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS). While the real estate and financial crises invoked a tightening of credit and lending criteria, some say questionable practices, particularly related to appraisal assessments, have begun to make their way back into the picture.