From technology enhancements and acquisitions to key hires, click through to learn the latest industry buzz.
Black Knight Inc. [1] has announced new enhancements to its MSP servicing system in support of Freddie Mac’s [2] new Investor Reporting Change Initiative (IRCI). The IRCI, required for Freddie Mac mortgage sellers/servicers, was implemented in May 2019 to help bring Freddie Mac’s single-family investor reporting requirements closer to an industry standard and update its remittance cycles.
Black Knight said that these changes were designed to streamline the reporting process, improve operational efficiencies and provide Freddie Mac mortgage sellers/servicers with a more complete view of investor reporting data.
“The Freddie Mac team extends our thanks and appreciation to Black Knight for the collaboration, dedication and hard work put forth by everyone on the IRCI initiative,” said John Felix, Loan Servicing Director, Freddie Mac. “By enhancing the MSP servicing system to support the IRCI, Black Knight is helping its servicer clients see the benefit of increased efficiencies that come with streamlining the investor reporting process. This was truly a team effort, and we look forward to our continued partnership.”
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Troy, Michigan-headquartered Flagstar Bank [3] is acquiring the default servicing operations of a vendor supporting its serviced loan portfolio. Flagstar said that it anticipates continuing operations at the vendor’s Jacksonville, Florida facility and making offers of employment to the vendor’s Jacksonville staff.
The bank announced that the transition is expected to be seamless for both customers and employees, as there are no planned system changes, no loan or data transfers, and borrowers’ points of contact will remain the same. Following the closing of the transaction, Flagstar will maintain its default servicing operations in Jacksonville, at its headquarters in Troy, Michigan, and in Bellevue, Washington. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close Sept. 27, 2019.
“Default servicing is a critically important service we provide to our mortgage servicing and subservicing clients,” said Lee Smith, COO at Flagstar. “With the rapid growth of our subservicing portfolio, it makes sense to strengthen our capabilities on the default side. This acquisition further leverages our industry-leading oversight and monitoring, while providing clients the compliance infrastructure and other benefits that Flagstar, as the nation’s third-largest federal savings bank, can offer.”
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Rushmore Loan Management Services, LLC, [4] a residential mortgage servicer, announced that it has signed an Asset Purchase Agreement to acquire the correspondent lending channel of
FirstBank, a Florida-based correspondent platform, and accompanying proprietary Fusion lending technology.
“We are thrilled about this transaction,” said Terry Smith, CEO of the California-based Rushmore. “FirstBank has developed an outstanding correspondent lending business under Bill Scammell’s leadership and we are very excited to welcome him and his team to our organization. In addition to expanding the universe of loan servicing offerings that we are able to provide to our customers, we expect that it will also increase our visibility into the broader mortgage lending space— enabling us to gain valuable market insights that can be leveraged across many different facets of our business.”
“We are very excited to join the Rushmore platform, build this business to a larger scale, and take advantage of new opportunities such as having a strong appetite for government loans,” said Bill Scammell, FirstBank’s Director of Correspondent Lending. “These are highly complementary businesses, and we fully expect that joining Rushmore will enable us to accelerate the growth of both Rushmore’s core servicing platform and the correspondent channel.”