California Attorney General Kamala Harris announced Tuesday that seven bills in the California Homeowner Bill of Rights passed out of legislative committees. Harris, who first introduced the bills in February, is pushing for permanent reform in her state since the $25 billion national mortgage settlement expands the course of three years. AB 2314 and SB 1472, which aim to fight neighborhood blight and increase fines against owners of blighted properties from $1,000 per day to $5,000, passed the assembly and senate judiciary committees.

Beginning June 15, real estate agents working with distressed homeowners whose loans are backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should expect to receive a decision on a short sale offer within 30-60 days. The GSEs issued new guidelines Tuesday that aim to bring greater transparency to the short sale process and expedite decisions related to these pre-foreclosure sales. Fannie and Freddie plan to use the new short sale timelines to evaluate servicer compliance with their Servicing Alignment Initiative.

Fiserv, Inc. hired Cliff Skelton to join the company as executive VP and CIO as of April 16, 2012. Skelton's appointment follows the leadership of Maryann Goebel, who will serve as an advisor to the company until her retirement on July 1, 2012. In this role, Skelton will be oversee global information technology infrastructure and operations, enterprise architecture, technology governance, and programs aimed at increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of the company’s technology platforms.

CoreLogic has been approved by Standard & Poor's (S&P) as a third-party due diligence provider for residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) rated by the agency, the company announced Tuesday.

With their 2012 first quarter earnings, JPMorgan and Wells Fargo revealed the reclassification of $1.6 billion and $1.7 billion, respectively, in second lien mortgages as nonperforming loans even though they are not yet delinquent. Fitch Ratings said it believes many U.S. banks are likely to follow suit, and that it does ""not view this as a material shift in the performance of these loans."" Both banks cited regulatory guidance as reasons for the reclassification. The reclassified loans are second liens associated with delinquent first liens. In cases involving delinquent loans, second liens are written off before a first lien takes any losses.

Through an ongoing investigation into bid rigging, a former executive of a New York tax liens company pleaded guilty Tuesday for his role in rigging bids for tax liens auctioned by municipalities through out the state, according to statement issued by the Department of Justice. Stephen E. Hruby, who supervised the purchasing of municipal tax liens at auctions in New Jersey, was the seventh to plead guilty from the ongoing bid rigging investigation. A felony charge was filed against him in the U.S. District Court in Newark, New Jersey.

Based on a metric devised by Moody’s Analytics, GMAC, SLS, and American Home performed better compared to other subprime servicers in terms of cash collected relative to losses on delinquent loans. This was mainly due to shorter liquidation timelines that resulted in lower loss severities on liquidated or foreclosed properties, according to an article in Moody's ResiLandscape. GMAC's high metric is due primarily to shorter liquidation timelines and because the servicer maximizes cash flow on modified loans by keeping the re-default rates in line with the industry average even though it offers relatively low levels of relief in terms of principal and interest.

Housing permits surged another 4.5 percent in March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 747,000, the highest level since September 2008, the Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development reported jointly Tuesday. At the same time though, housing starts fell for the third time in the last four months to the lowest level since last October. The increase in permits was driven largely by multi-family activity; single family permits fell for the first time since last September.

Ally Financial has agreed to extend the maturity of its secured debt facility with its wholly owned mortgage subsidiary Residential Capital LLC (ResCap). Shortly following the announcement, Fitch Ratings issued a research note on the action, saying that Ally's decision is in line with the agency's expectation of continued moderate support to ResCap from its parent company. That moderate support, however, may be short-lived. With the debt renewal only extended through mid-May, Ally may be planning for a bankruptcy resolution in the near future.

The head of one of the world's most powerful financial policy bodies has tossed her hat into the debate over mortgage principal reductions. Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), says ""the housing problem in the U.S. is something that needs to be addressed"" and it is ""a matter of urgency."" Lagarde tipped her hat in favor of the administration's proposal of principal reductions, but said the problem is that ""the big boys and girls - Fannie and Freddie - have to be part of that equation.""