News

Two government programs that extend new options to homeowners who are unable to make their mortgage payments will lean even more heavily upon field service firms, according to National Creditors Connection Inc. (NCCI). The California-based company says the role of these field service providers will expand from basic borrower contact to a targeted evaluation of a borrower's financial condition.

Regulatory compliance has become a major issue in the mortgage industry. And to help lenders stay ahead of pending state and regulatory changes, Wolters Kluwer Financial Services, a Minneapolis-based provider of compliance, content, and technology solutions and services for the mortgage industry, has added new functionality to its StateLink tool, a Web-based compliance knowledge base.

The Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) has been the target of some heavy criticism, with naysayers taking aim at everything from the program's slow progress to servicers' lack of capacity to handle large-volume modification work. The latest numbers may be more fodder for the fire. Treasury's HAMP report card shows 230,801 homeowners have been granted permanent modifications under the program, and the number of permanently modified loans to re-default has nearly doubled in one month's time.

Mount Laurel, New Jersey-based PHH Mortgage Corporation, a private label outsourcing company that provides cost-effective mortgage solutions for financial institutions, real estate brokers, and government agencies, recently announced that it is has enhanced it sub-servicing offering, which allows organizations to outsource the servicing of their loans, including customer service, escrow administration, payment, and collections.

DoubleLine Funds Trust has launched an open-end mutual fund, DoubleLine Total Return Bond Fund, which will invest in mortgage-backed securities (MBS). The company says the fund seeks to exploit pricing dislocations within the mortgage subsectors, and will target long-term investments in both GSE and private-label mortgage bonds.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) recently released its Foreclosure Prevention and Refinance Report, detailing the actions the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) have taken to prevent foreclosures and keep people in their home. The findings were positive, showing notable improvements across the board.

Got an insider's view into the workings of the nation's mortgage market, what's right and what's wrong? How about a strategy on reforming the housing finance system? President Obama and his administration want to hear your ideas. Somewhere in the trenches may lie the answers policymakers are looking for. The federal government released a list of questions Wednesday soliciting input and opinions from market participants and industry groups on how to restructure the mortgage finance system.

Marking the second consecutive week of decreased activity, mortgage application volume tumbled 9.6 percent for the week ending April 9, 2010, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported Wednesday. This is the third lowest Market Index recorded in the survey since the end of June 2009.

Integrated Asset Services, LLC (IAS) said Tuesday that its benchmark for national house prices fell 0.6 percent in February. The drop marked the seventh straight monthly decline reported by the collateral valuation firm and pushed its home price gauge to April 2004 levels. IAS says that by now, the normal seasonal upturn should have begun, but the company isn't seeing the typical forces at work.

Political pressure is growing for lenders to cut mortgage principal. Executives from the nation's four largest banks pushed back against that pressure Tuesday, arguing to lawmakers that a large-scale principal forgiveness program could have dire ramifications for the future of housing finance. It's estimated that some 11 million borrowers owe more on the mortgage than their home is worth. JPMorgan Chase projects it would cost $700 billion to $900 billion to bring these underwater borrowers ""even.""