The Collingwood Group announced Tuesday that it has retained Ray Romano as senior advisor. Romano previously served as EVP and chief credit officer at Freddie Mac. At the Collingwood Group, Romano will provide executive leadership in the areas of risk management for consumer and multi-family mortgage products. His work will help clients navigate the business opportunities that exist in Washington, D.C. as a result of the housing crisis.

Bank of America reported Tuesday that it saw a profit of $6.2 billion during the third quarter of this year, compared to a loss of $7.3 billion a year ago. Perhaps the biggest headline-grabber gleaned from BofA's third-quarter numbers is that the company lost its position as the largest U.S. bank by assets. On the mortgage side of the business, BofA says it has successfully implemented the rollout of a single point of contact for default servicing. Provisions for credit losses declined 37 percent from the year-ago quarter.

CoreLogic and Amherst Holdings, LLC, have partnered to release the Agency Prepayment Analyzer, an online investment analysis tool. The analyzer intertwines CoreLogic's data with Amherst's analytics and forecasting to deliver prepayment risk trends for agency mortgage-backed securities. Designed for fixed-income investors, Agency Prepayment Analyzer tracks the rates at which residential mortgage loans prepay, either voluntarily or involuntarily due to refinancing, defaults, or sales - instances in which the GSEs require buybacks.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to transition away from their current foreclosure attorney network programs, and move to a system where mortgage servicers will select law firms based on minimum qualifications and uniform criteria. Currently, each GSE designates eligible law firms for individual states, and servicers choose a firm from these lists to handle their foreclosure work. FHFA says the new approach is an extension of the Servicing Alignment Initiative and will lead to greater transparency.

While the homeownership rate falls, rental demand rises bringing rental rates up and apartment vacancies down -- all of which has led Freddie Mac's chief economist to label the multifamily sector a positive signal for the U.S. housing industry. Frank Nothaft says improvement in the economics of apartment management has prompted an increase in structure values, property sales, and new construction. He notes that many newly-formed households are choosing to rent rather than own in the current, unstable economy.

The mortgage banking law firm of Butler and Hosch, P.A. has announced the appointment of Amber Paxton as its new SVP of operations and Tyrutte Kimbrell as VP of vendor relations for the Southern region. Paxton joins Butler and Hosch with more than 15 years' experience that includes managing mortgage default operations in compliance with both GSE and non-GSE guidelines. Kimbrell brings 10 years of experience in default servicing to the firm.

Help for underwater homeowners has moved from principal writedowns to refinancing in the settlement negotiations between state attorneys general and the nation's five largest mortgage servicers. According to a widely circulated report, the proposal made its way into the talks last week. Borrowers who are current on their mortgage payments but owe more than their home is worth would be able to refinance at today's lower rates. The main caveat is that the loan must be owned, not just serviced, by one of the five banks.

ServiceLink announced Tuesday that Greg Whitworth has joined the company as EVP of servicing solutions. Whitworth will help develop ServiceLink's overall default and servicing business strategy, and will focus on building a consulting practice. ServiceLink is a Fidelity National Financial company and currently provides its solutions to 15 of the top 20 mortgage lenders and servicers. ServiceLink's flagship workflow and content management technology, Commerce Velocity, will be a key area of focus for Whitworth.

The state of Hawaii has now gone live with its Mortgage Foreclosure Dispute Resolution (MFDR) program. MFDR is a key component of Act 48 signed into law by Gov. Neil Abercrombie this spring and is intended to ""reform the foreclosure process"" in the state, according to government officials. The program is designed to offer owner-occupants of residential property in non-judicial foreclosure the opportunity to meet directly with their lenders to modify their loans or work out an alternative to foreclosure.

Citigroup reported Monday that it brought in net income of $3.8 billion during the third quarter of this year. That's up 74 percent from a year earlier. Third quarter revenues increased, thanks to a $1.9 billion accounting adjustment that allowed Citi to record a gain based on the risk associated with its credit holdings. The company said in its earnings presentation to investors that it remains highly focused on risk management, particularly as it relates to U.S. mortgage exposure.