Rating agencies and Wall Street firms are paying close attention to the mounting regulatory problems at Ocwen Financial, fearful that more bad news could lead to servicing downgrades, which in turn could hamper its ability as a master servicer of MBS. One servicing advisor who has worked with Ocwen over the past two years noted that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pay close attention to the master servicing ratings of their counterparties. “You have to maintain minimum ratings and if you don’t – there’s going to be trouble,” he said. Downgrades, he added, can lead...
Jaron Van Maanen of the FDIC said the lender should determine if the factor determining the LO’s comp consistently varies with terms over a significant number of transactions...
Bank of New York Mellon is looking to increase its master servicing activity on residential mortgages, according to officials at the firm that acquired the master servicing unit from JPMorgan Chase in October 2006. However, BNYM is up against stiff competition, including Wells Fargo, a dominant presence in master servicing for non-agency MBS. BNYM is focusing on growth opportunities from managing new funds in traditional residential mortgages as well as new loan types, according to a recent report by Fitch Ratings. In September, Fitch downgraded BNYM’s master servicer rating due to compliance issues, organizational changes and low activity in recent years. The firm has...
Servicers are increasingly executing their clean-up call options on vintage non-agency MBS, paying off investors at par and realizing profits by liquidating real estate owned properties. This year has been the most active year for clean-up calls on non-agency MBS since 2007, according to analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. And that’s before the largest servicer of subprime MBS has taken any significant action on clean-up calls. In August, Ocwen Financial announced...
The mortgage industry cannot and should not wait for Congress to get around to a legislative solution to the government-sponsored enterprises when much of what is necessary can be accomplished administratively, according to experts at a forum hosted by the Urban Institute and CoreLogic. Andrew Davidson, president of Andrew Davidson & Co., noted that among the lessons of this year’s failure to launch a Senate GSE reform bill is that lawmakers find it easier to agree on a set of principles for a mortgage finance system than on the system’s design. With legislation a long shot before the 2016 presidential elections, Davidson said...
Two Harbors Investment is working to increase its non-agency conduit activity, launching a nonprime product along with a low-downpayment jumbo for high-quality borrowers. Officials at the real estate investment trust said Two Harbors also plans to be a regular issuer of non-agency mortgage-backed securities. “It has been clear to us for some time that the market has a need for products like this, and we are excited to be able to extend our reach as a capital provider to these segments ...
With growth via acquisitions of servicing portfolios on hold, Ocwen Financial is pursuing a number of different initiatives, including originations of non-agency mortgages. The nonbank primarily known for servicing high-touch mortgages is currently testing originations of jumbo mortgages and working toward originating nonprime mortgages. “The business is building a robust new product pipeline and is currently in the market testing a new jumbo mortgage product,” Michael Bourque ...
Originations by nonbanks of loans that don’t meet standards for qualified mortgages are off to a slow start, according to industry participants. “There is obviously a lot of noise in the area, a lot of announcements about people getting involved. And from what we have seen, there is nothing of any size and replicable flow that seems readily securitizable,” Michael Commaroto, CEO of Apollo Residential Mortgage, said this week during a call with investors. He said ...
The number of loan modifications completed in the third quarter of 2014 was lower than activity in other recent quarters, according to servicers and data from the Home Affordable Modification Program. While improved borrower performance contributed to the slowdown, some servicers suggest that changes in federal modification programs were also a factor. A total of 29,384 permanent HAMP mods were started in the third quarter of 2014, down 14.6 percent from ... [Includes one data chart]
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