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Mortgage Contracting Services Announces Three New VPs

Mortgage Contracting Services LLC (MCS), a Florida-based nationwide provider of property preservation, inspections, and REO property maintenance to the financial services industry, announced three new company VPs on Tuesday. Todd Luckey was promoted to VP of REO operations, Megan Stinnett was promoted to VP of inspection operations, and Chad Mosley was hired as VP of business development.

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Attorney General Urges Indiana Supreme Court to Set Foreclosure Rules

Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller on Monday filed a petition asking the Indiana Supreme Court to impose new procedures for foreclosures filed in the state. Zoeller says with some mortgage lenders trying to foreclose on distressed homeowners by filing court documents that are unverified, unauthenticated, or riddled with errors, Indiana is not going to wait for the federal government to take action to ensure borrowers' rights are protected.

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Fannie Mae to Utilize eMASON App for Mandated Foreclosure Mediation

Fannie Mae will utilize eMASON's Web-based Clarifire application to comply with the foreclosure pre-filing mediation process mandated by the Florida Supreme Court. Issued in December 2009, the statewide mediation program aims to open up communication between lenders and distressed borrowers prior to foreclosure proceedings. eMASON says Clarifire works to improve the prospect and cycle times associated with assisting borrowers by offering mediation and related workout options early in the loan's delinquency.

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Regulators: Completed Foreclosures in Q3 Up 57% from Year Ago

New data from federal regulators show that the nation's largest banks and thrifts repossessed nearly 187,000 homes during the third quarter of 2010. The number of foreclosures completed during the three-month period is up 57.5 percent from a year earlier. The report shows that new foreclosures initiated also rose to more than 382,000. Although foreclosure activity increased during the quarter, servicers reported almost twice as many home retention actions as completed home forfeiture actions.

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Bank of America Agrees to $3B Settlement with Fannie and Freddie

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have reached an agreement with another lender to cover repurchase claims from alleged faulty underwriting standards in origination. Bank of America announced Monday that it paid a nearly $3 billion settlement to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on the last day of 2010 to cover repurchase claims from the two GSEs. According to BofA, the settlement resolves ""substantial legacy issues"" in the best interest of its shareholders, and the company says it is committed to putting such issues in its rearview mirror.

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Equator Announces Default Servicing Milestones

Default servicing software provider Equator has sold more than $100 billion in assets through its platform since 2003, according to an announcement from the company. In addition, since launching its automated short sale solution in November 2009, the company has initiated more than 500,000 short sales. The company plans to offer several new modules later this year that will interface with existing technology to assist servicers with growing inventories of distressed assets.

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Ally Financial Reaches $462M Settlement with Fannie Mae

Ally Financial announced that its mortgage unit, Residential Capital (ResCap), and some of its subsidiaries have reached an agreement with Fannie Mae to resolve potential repurchase exposure for breaches in selling representations and warranties. The $462 million settlement releases ResCap and its subsidiaries from liability related to about $292 billion in principal unpaid balances. It covers loans serviced by GMAC Mortgage and any mortgage-backed security that Fannie Mae purchased prior to the settlement.

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Former Comptroller of the Currency Joins Covington & Burling

Former comptroller of the currency John C. Dugan will rejoin Covington & Burling LLP as a partner, according to an announcement from the Washington, D.C., firm. Dugan will chair the firm's Financial Institutions Group and advise clients on legal matters affected by increased regulatory requirements resulting from the financial crisis. Dugan led the U.S. Treasury's Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for five years, until stepping down from the role on August 14, 2010.

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Mortgage Rates Head Upward Last Week of the Year

Mortgage interest rates began to climb again last week, after falling the week prior for the first time in more than a month. Freddie Mac says the results of its latest survey reveal increasing mortgage rates for all loan products included in the study except the 1-year adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM). Rates across the board climbed higher in a separate study released by Bankrate. More than half of the industry experts surveyed by Bankrate believe mortgage rates will continue to rise.

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Pending Sales of Existing Homes Swell by 3.5%: NAR

The number of contracts signed for purchases of previously owned homes climbed again in November, according to data released by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) late last week. The organization's pending home sales index rose 3.5 percent based on contracts signed in November. That follows a record 10 percent jump recorded for the month of October and beat even the most modest market expectations. NAR describes the trend as indicative of ""a gradual recovery into 2011.""

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