News

Cincinnati-based Convergys Corporation has announced the immediate availability of its new Convergys Loan Modification Solutions. The company says these solutions leverage live agent assistance; outbound communications via voice, email, or text; and analytics to encourage loan retention and help servicers respond to increasing consumer demand.

Foreclosure filings fell six percent during the month of May, according to the U.S. Foreclosure Market Report released by RealtyTrac on Thursday. Despite the monthly decline, the nation’s foreclosure numbers are nearly 18 percent higher than they were in May 2008.

NeighborWorks America has boosted funding for foreclosure prevention guidance through its National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling Program, yet an alarming number of distressed homeowners who have been instructed by advisors to contact their mortgage servicer have had a hard time reaching them or received disappointing resolutions.

Three Texas-based companies – REO Alternatives, Rapid Reporting Verification Company, and SigniaDocs – together with Maryland’s Overture Technologies unveiled plans on Tuesday to offer expedited electronic loan modifications through a collaborative initiative they’ve dubbed the eMortgage System Processing (ESP) program.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its Mortgage Applications Survey on Wednesday, for the week ending June 5, 2009. The association’s study shows that refinances, typically an effective tool for lowering distressed homeowners’ monthly payments, continued to fall last week – a trend that has prevailed for several weeks now.

The Congressional Oversight Panel, one of the federal watchdogs that oversees the government’s $700 billion bailout of the financial industry, says regulators’ stress tests of the nation’s 19 largest banks should be administered again using more severe economic assumptions, and should be conducted over a longer period.

Reston, Virginia-based MERSCORP, Inc. (MERS) unveiled a new program on Tuesday that informs borrowers of ownership changes regarding their mortgage. The company says its program supports new federal legislation, which is designed to help homeowners keep their homes by bringing greater transparency and accountability to the mortgage lending process.

Nationstar Mortgage LLC, headquartered in Dallas, Texas, has joined the list of mortgage companies officially under contract to provide federal loan modifications through the government’s Home Affordable Modification program.

Regulators have given 10 major financial institutions the green light to start repaying billions of dollars in federal bailout money. These banks were deemed by their regulatory supervisors on Tuesday to be strong enough to withdraw from what was formerly the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) but was renamed the Capital Purchase Program (CPP) under the Obama administration.

Lenders One Mortgage Cooperative recently sponsored the Third Annual Lenders One Legislative Summit in Washington, D.C., to give its mortgage banker members an audience with federal housing agencies and lawmakers.