News

Bank of America and Fidelity National Financial have come to an agreement regarding the foreclosure paperwork issues that have plagued several of the largest lenders in the past weeks. Fidelity will continue to provide title insurance for BofA's foreclosed properties and defend new homeowners in court if title issues arise. The bank has agreed to cover all court related costs and settlements resulting from lawsuits surrounding title issues. The news comes just as Bank of America has announced that it will resume foreclosures in 23 judicial states beginning October 25th.

Citigroup reported Monday that it pulled in a profit of $2.2 billion, or 7 cents per share, during the third quarter of this year. The company outperformed analysts' expectations of 6 cents per share as it boasted its third straight quarter of positive gains. Citi has skirted recent revelations of flaws in several major banks' handling of foreclosure paperwork, but the issue was front-of-mind during the company's conference call with investors. Citi officials stressed that reviews have not identified any issues with foreclosure processing or affidavits.

The Homeownership Preservation Foundation has partnered with NeighborWorks America, HUD, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law to help prevent foreclosure-rescue scams. The coalition is positioning the Homeowner's HOPE Hotline (1-888-995-HOPE) as a central point of contact for homeowners who think they may be victim of a scam. Information provided to the hotline is used by local, state, and federal agencies to shut down predatory companies victimizing distressed homeowners.

After a short-lived quiet period the weekend before, state and federal regulators stepped in on Friday to shut down the operations of one community-based lender in Kansas and two in Missouri. Together, the three closings are expected to cost the FDIC more than $500 million and bring the 2010 failed-bank tally to 132.

The Terranova Group, a third-party provider of specialized asset management and disposition services, recently hired Richard Parvey to join its executive team as director of land development. A 20-year industry veteran, Parvey brings a wealth of land acquisition and development experience to his new role, where he will be responsible for helping financial institutions move bank-owned and non-performing developments off their books.

The industry has long been awaiting a replacement for the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC). On Friday, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac issued new Appraiser Independence Requirements to supplant the controversial HVCC, but both GSEs say the new appraiser rules, effective immediately, ""make no significant changes to core principles of the HVCC."" Fannie and Freddie say they will continue to review the appraisal rules to address issues relating to conflicts of interests and fee disclosure by appraisal management companies.

All the news of flawed, perhaps fraudulent, foreclosure paperwork has many worried that housing's feeble recovery could quickly derail. A number of large lenders have frozen foreclosure actions and REO sales, but there are several major names that are standing by initial claims that their foreclosure affidavits are legitimate. Wells Fargo says its process is ""sound"" despite a newly uncovered deposition by a self-proclaimed robo-signer and former employee. Citigroup and PHH Mortgage also say they have no reason to stop foreclosures in process.

Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray has filed a preliminary injunction seeking to prevent GMAC Mortgage from completing foreclosure sales in his state that he says are based on faulty affidavits. Cordray filed suit October 6th against GMAC; its parent, Ally Financial Inc.; and one of its employees, alleging fraud against Ohio consumers and Ohio courts. The preliminary injunction asks that GMAC stop its ""faulty affidavit practices"" while the lawsuit is pending.

There are 7,018,000 mortgages in the United States that are 30 or more days delinquent or in the process of foreclosure, according to new data from Lender Processing Services (LPS). Of the more than 7 million home loans in the country currently going unpaid, 2,055,000 have already commenced foreclosure proceedings. LPS reports that 4,963,000 are in the pre-foreclosure default stages, with nearly half of these falling into the 90-plus-days delinquent bucket.

Quicken Loans Inc., one of the nation's largest online mortgage lenders, reports it closed approximately 15,500 home loans totaling $3.4 billion in loan volume in September. It's the largest monthly closed volume in the company's 25-year history. September's production surpassed the previous record set just last month. Quicken Loan's saw nearly 14,000 closed loans and $3.15 billion in loan volume in August.