Law firm K&L Gates and the National and Washington Lawyers’ Committees for Civil Rights launched a pro bono legal challenge to an allegedly discriminatory and otherwise unlawful foreclosure rescue scam targeting Hispanic homeowners in northern Virginia. Plaintiffs Jose and Margarita Viera allege they have been the victims of defendants Bella Homes LLC and a number of its management officials and agents in a scheme that zeroes in on Hispanic homeowners who were having difficulty making their mortgage payments. “The crux of the complaint is that ...

Earlier this month, private-equity firm Fortress took its mortgage servicer unit, Nationstar Mortgage Holdings Inc., public, the second such offering for a mortgage servicer in a month, even as some large bank servicers increasingly look for the exits. The move might look like healthy creative vs. destructive capitalism to some, but it’s a disturbing trend on at least one public policy level, according to housing policy expert Karen Shaw Petrou, managing partner at Federal Financial Analytics, a Washington, DC, think tank. “From a purely market perspective, there’s no problem if banks lose and PEs win ...

Federal Housing Finance Agency.FHFA Office of Inspector General. FHFA’s Supervision of Freddie Mac’s Controls over Mortgage Servicing Contractors Faulted. The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Office of Inspector General found some areas in which the Finance Agency could improve its supervision of Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s controls over its mortgage servicing contractors. “FHFA has not clearly defined its role regarding oversight of servicers, sufficiently coordinated with other federal banking agencies about risks ...

The documents governing a proposed $25.0 billion settlement involving five major banks include greater incentives for principal reduction loan modifications on portfolio loans rather than loans in non-agency mortgage-backed securities. However, non-agency MBS investors remain concerned that they could take losses due to the settlement. The consent judgments against Ally Financial, Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo were filed in federal court this week, a month after the settlement was announced by 49 state attorneys general and the federal government ...

Beginning June 1, the non-agency portion of the Home Affordable Modification Program will include a “Tier 2” with expanded eligibility requirements and adjusted incentives. The Treasury Department released the details last week, officially making changes first announced in January. The changes to HAMP include eligibility for certain rental properties, less stringent debt-to-income ratio requirements, a loosening of the short sale and deed-in-lieu of foreclosure requirements and an extension of all HAMP programs through the end of 2013. HAMP was initially scheduled to expire at the end of this year ...

The $25.0 billion settlement involving five bank servicers includes refinance eligibility requirements that differ from the settlement’s loan modification program. Only portfolio loans are eligible to meet the settlement’s refi requirements, unlike the mod program, which includes portfolio loans, mortgages in non-agency mortgage-backed securities and FHA loans. Under the pending settlement with 49 state attorneys general and the federal government, Ally Financial, Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo must dedicate $2.78 billion toward refis for certain borrowers with negative equity ...

Nationstar Mortgage announced last week that it plans to acquire the $63.0 billion mortgage portfolio and certain other assets from Aurora Bank, a subsidiary of Lehman Brothers. The acquisition includes co-investment by a real estate investment trust affiliated with the owner of Nationstar and continues Nationstar’s rapid nonprime servicing growth. The high-touch servicer said it expects the long-pending sale by the bankrupt Lehman to close during the second quarter of 2012. A number of other servicers had expressed interest in bidding on the Aurora portfolio, including Ocwen Financial ...

Walter Investment Management is looking to leverage its subservicing relationships with the government-sponsored enterprises and avoid bidding wars to grow its servicing portfolio, according to officials at the special servicer. The company handled an $86 billion portfolio at the end of 2011, predominantly subserviced for others and added $57 billion in servicing during the year, all on a subservicing basis. Some $750 billion in mortgages are currently in the pipeline to potentially be transferred to special servicers, according to Denmar Dixon, vice chairman and executive vice president at Walter. The loans include potential sales of mortgage servicing rights as well as subservicing opportunities ...

The Treasury Department announced last week that it will restore Home Affordable Modification Program incentive payments previously withheld from Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase. The move was prompted by the servicers agreeing to participate in the proposed $25.0 billion servicing settlement and not necessarily by improved HAMP performance. In fact, the consent judgments filed against BofA and Chase specifically cite deficiencies in the servicers’ HAMP performance. “The United States contends that it has certain civil claims based on conduct of the company and its affiliated entities in servicing of mortgage loans,” the complaint against each servicer states, later citing implementation of the Making Home Affordable Program and all of its components, among other deficiencies ...

Flagstar Bank’s recent $133 million settlement with the Department of Justice to resolve fraudulent FHA lending practices could increase lender overlays on the FHA product, resulting in fewer borrowers being able to qualify for an FHA-insured loan, according to analysts. The Flagstar settlement, which came in the wake of the $25 billion national settlement between servicers and state and federal agencies, exacerbates the situation for lenders that already have previous concerns about the severity of FHA fines, including treble damages, for violations of FHA’s highly complex and technical rules, analysts said. Whatever relief FHA lenders may have drawn from the robo-signing settlement was ...