Tag Archives: Foreclosure Prevention

The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act's (MFDRA) expiration may lead to negative pressure on liquidation timelines and recoveries for legacy U.S. mortgage investors if the act is not renewed, according to Fitch Ratings. Recently expired as of January 1, the ...

The veterans of this business can remember when REOs ran in the neighborhood of 150,000 a year, delinquency rates were just around 4 percent, and you only needed a credit score of 620 to qualify for a prime mortgage loan. But the housing finance industry, and default servicing especially, has changed. In the cover story of it's September issue, DS News looks at the many factors--from a slew of new regulatory mandates to an altered public perception of debt obligations--that have altered the business into something far from customary.

Many economists and market observers have suggested the market is poised for continued growth as the recovery enters its third year, and there are positive elements in play that provide some reasons for optimism. Recent loan vintages continue to perform at levels better than historical norms, which has allowed the industry to work through its backlog of distressed assets; foreclosure activity is declining; and housing starts have begun to rise.

Fay Servicing, a Chicago-based special servicer, has earned stable outlooks from both S&P and Fitch Ratings. According to the agencies' assessments, the rating actions are based on Fay's robust single point of contact (SPOC) model and integrated servicing technology.

Freddie Mac's mortgage book of business contracted at an annualized rate of 6.4 percent in October, marking the fourth consecutive month of declines. The book has registered declines in seven of the first 10 months of 2013, according to Freddie Mac's monthly volume summary. October's pace of decline was the highest rate so far this year and is up from a 4.3 percent annualized rate reported for September.

The servicer assessment component of the Making Home Affordable (MHA) program has been enhanced with new compliance metrics and benchmarks to measure the impact of servicer performance on the borrower's experience. Individual servicer assessments are conducted quarterly to identify areas of non-compliance and drive improvements in servicers' execution of the federal program.

A total of 38,908 insurance certificates for borrowers seeking to buy or refinance a home were issued by members of Mortgage Insurance Companies of America (MICA) in October. That number sits lower than most other months of 2013 and is nearly 4,000 less than last October. At the same time, dollar volume on insurance written throughout the month was the lowest since May 2012.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) recently published a notice in the Federal Register that new maximum foreclosure attorney fees will be allowed for loan terminations completed on or after December 12, 2013. Maximum fee amounts vary by state. There are no changes in the amounts allowed for deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure or bankruptcy releases, although VA continues to review these fees.

The former banking regulator overseeing the National Mortgage Settlement has released a summary of the latest reports he filed with a federal court in Washington, D.C. The reports detail the performance of five major servicers in meeting the terms of the agreement reached with 49 state attorneys general and federal officials. Joseph Smith says he's confirmed six fails in the first quarter of 2013 and one in the second quarter.

Independent mortgage bankers are a growing segment and they're poised to take over even more market share as larger institutions trim their mortgage businesses. The five biggest banks were responsible for 53.2 percent of new mortgage activity in the United States in 2012, down from nearly two-thirds in 2010. According to a recent FBR Capital Markets forecast, that share could shrink to 40 percent by 2014.