The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) now has the authority to oversee nonbank businesses, including mortgage servicers that are not part of a depository institution and companies providing loan modification and foreclosure relief services. This expanded authority came with the appointment of an agency director on Wednesday, and the bureau wasted no time. That very same day, the CFPB announced the official launch of its nonbank supervisory program.

PHH Corporation announced Wednesday that its board of directors has elected Glen Messina president and CEO. Messina, who has served as COO since joining the company in July 2011, will take his position at the helm of the mortgage outsourcer immediately, PHH said. Messina succeeds Jerome Selitto, the company's president and CEO since October 2009. PHH said Selitto has resigned from his post, effective immediately.

Fixed mortgage rates started the year at or near their all-time record lows. Data from Freddie Mac shows the interest rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage averaged 3.91 percent for the week ending January 5, 2012, matching the record low set just two weeks earlier. This marks the fifth consecutive week the 30-year rate has come in below the 4.00 percent mark. The 15-year fixed-rate is averaging 3.23 percent, just two basis points above its all-time low hit in December.

In the servicing sector, compliance was the buzz word in the fourth quarter of 2011, according Equator, a leading software provider for the default servicing industry. And compliance will continue to be top-of-mind throughout 2012, according to the company. ""The needs of our clients have focused on the demands for stricter compliance and Infrastructure Security,"" said John Vella, COO of Equator. Having released its short sale module in 2009, Equator has initiated almost 1.2 million short sales as of the fourth quarter of 2011.

Mortgage modification scams made the list of ""Top Ten Scams of 2011,"" assembled by the Better Business Bureau (BBB). Because the federal government announced or expanded several mortgage relief programs this year, the BBB says all kinds of sound-alike websites have popped up to try to fool consumers into parting with their money. Scammers are representing themselves as government agencies or the BBB itself in order to gain consumers' trust.

President Obama on Wednesday exercised his executive power by using Congress' recess to appoint Richard Cordray director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), devoid of a Senate confirmation vote. Without a confirmed director, the CFPB's reach was limited. Now that Obama has single-handedly positioned Cordray at the helm, the bureau has the authority to extend its regulatory powers to non-bank entities such as mortgage brokers and non-depository lenders.

Advertisements informing the public about the independent foreclosure reviews underway for 14 major mortgage servicers hit the presses and the radio airwaves Wednesday. Released by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the announcements inform the public that those who underwent foreclosure in 2009 and 2010 might be eligible for an independent case review if there is reason to believe they suffered financially as a result of mistakes made by their servicer.

Wipro Gallagher Solutions (WGS), a provider of end-to-end lending solutions for financial institutions, has redefined its fulfillment offerings to better meet the demands of middle- and top-tier lenders and their servicers. WGS has revised its business process outsourcing (BPO) packages depending on the lender's volume of originations and service offerings, with solutions tailored to fulfill clients' specific needs.

The delinquency rate among commercial mortgage backed securities (CMBS) rose in eight of 12 months in 2011, according to a report released Wednesday by Trepp. Most recently, the rate rose seven basis points to 9.58 percent for the month of December. That's up from 9.2 percent one year ago. Trepp views this as the first of a six to twelve month stretch where the rate could increase by 75 basis points in aggregate, as loans originated in 2007 begin reaching their balloon dates.

Pending home sales continued to rise in November, reaching their highest level in 19 months, the National Association of Realtors reported. The trade group's index of signed sales contracts jumped 7.3 percent between October and November and is 5.9 percent above its level a year earlier. The last time the index was higher was in April 2010 as buyers rushed to beat the deadline for the homebuyer tax credit. Analysts say the results are likely to feed the view that there is a recovery going on in the housing market.