Home / News (page 1890)

News

Grip of Financial Distress Tightens Again in Third Quarter: Report

The overall financial health of consumers showed incremental improvements in the first half of 2010, but that progress was wiped out during a span of three months due to weaker household budgets, renewed strains on housing costs, and high levels of unemployment, according to the nonprofit credit counseling agency CredAbility. The average U.S. consumer has been in financial ""distress"" for nine consecutive quarters, with consumers in some parts of the country headed for financial ""crisis.""

Read More »

Senate Committee Holds Hearing on Robo-Signing

The industry's robo-signing problems were the focus on Capitol Hill Tuesday. Executives from major banks, including BofA and Chase, were on hand at a Senate Banking Committee hearing to defend the validity of their foreclosure actions and detail changes that have been made to ensure the integrity of the process. But lawmakers were hardnosed and unforgiving in their accusations. And the hearing was not without incident. Testimony was interrupted by the CEO of a nonprofit advocacy group yelling for distressed borrowers to get their say.

Read More »

FHA’s Year-End Report Shows Cash Reserves Remain Below Legal Limit

The Federal Housing Administration says it has sustained significant losses from home loans insured prior to 2009. As a result, its capital reserve ratio remains below the threshold mandated by law. The agency has $4.7 billion in cash reserves, which equals 0.5 percent of outstanding single-family mortgages insured. The minimum requirement is 2 percent. Despite the shortfall, Commissioner David Stevens says the agency will not need a taxpayer subsidy, and he stressed that even in a worst-case scenario, there's enough money to cover claim losses.

Read More »

Loan Value Group’s RH Reward Program Named a 2010 Best Invention

Loan Value Group recently announced that its Responsible Homeowner Reward program was chosen by Time magazine as one of the 50 Best Inventions of 2010. Ranked fifth and the only financial product on the list, RH Reward is a system that monetarily rewards borrowers for timely mortgage payments. The publication touts the company's program as a solution to reducing foreclosures by addressing the problem of strategic default, which accounts for as many as 30 percent of all home-loan defaults.

Read More »

Citi Sells Real Estate Investment Group to Apollo Global

Citigroup Inc. has found a buyer for its real estate investment management group, Citi Property Investors (CPI). Apollo Global Management says one of its affiliates has completed the acquisition of the Citi investment unit. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Citigroup has been selling off various assets and businesses to shore up its operations and help repay the $45 billion in took in bailout money from the federal government. CPI had assets under management of over $3 billion as of June 30.

Read More »

iServe Aligns Servicing and Real Estate Operations

iServe Servicing, Inc., a residential mortgage special servicer of performing, sub-performing, nonperforming, and bank-owned assets, announced Monday that it has integrated its business operations with iServe Real Estate Operations Inc. (iServe REO). The combined business unit will maintain the iServe Servicing title and be led by current iServe Servicing CEO Richard Cimino.

Read More »

Community Associations Hit Hard by Housing, Economic Slump

More than half of the estimated 310,000 homeowner and condominium associations in the U.S. are struggling with financial issues stemming from the nation's foreclosure crisis, according to the Community Associations Institute. Because they are unable to collect fees from empty homes to fund services such as utilities and maintenance, vacancy rates can have a significant impact on homeowner associations. To stay afloat, they are borrowing, postponing improvement projects, levying special assessments, and restricting services.

Read More »

Default Servicing Technologies Releases New Interface for Closing Firms

Default Servicing Technologies LLC (DST) has announced the launch of a new Closing Company portal, which the company says will improve how closing companies interact with clients through DispoSolutions, DST's REO management platform. According to DST, the new, flexible _Closing Company_ interface simplifies workflow and provides closing firms with real-time communication, document management, notes, title information, contact lists, escrow directions, and HUD contract sell-side details.

Read More »

Green River Capital Names New President

Green River Capital (GRC), an REO asset management and loss mitigation provider for mortgage servicers, investment firms, and banking institutions, has named Joseph D'Urso company president. D'Urso brings more than 20 years of financial industry experience to the company. He is the former CEO of GC Mortgage Advisors LLC, was also head of the residential loan businesses at Merrill Lynch, and spent a decade with Goldman Sachs in various roles.

Read More »

NAR Survey Finds Half of Homebuyers to be First-Time Purchasers

First-time homebuyers purchased half of all homes that were sold from July 2009 to June 2010, according to an annual survey of buyers and sellers conducted by the National Association of Realtors (NAR). It's the highest share of first-time homebuyers in the history of NAR's study, which dates back to 1981. The trade group attributed its findings to the success of the government's tax credits, but also voiced concern that today's credit policy restrictions are locking responsible borrowers out of homeownership.

Read More »