Joe Anderson, who worked at Countrywide Financial Corp. for 17 years and then Nationstar, is considered the top candidate to get the CEO job at Vericrest Financial.

Three senators are pushing for 3 percent downpayment language on the QRM rule.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced this week that it will closely scrutinize servicing transfers due to complaints from borrowers tied to a recent increase in servicing sales. The federal regulator published CFPB Bulletin 2013-01 this week detailing the new oversight standards, with an emphasis on loss mitigation issues. “The CFPB has particular concerns related to servicing transfers that arise from consumer complaints and supervisory work related to servicing transfers,” the federal regulator said. “Among other complaints, consumers have complained about service interruptions when their loans are transferred during the loss mitigation process.” The problems are related...

Ever since Taylor Bean & Whitaker went down in flames a few years ago, the market for loans backed by mortgage servicing rights has been dormant with the nation’s largest banks pulling out of the business and vowing never to return. But now that MSRs are considered a “hot” investment with nonbanks such as Nationstar Mortgage, Ocwen Financial and Walter Investment Management gobbling up billions of dollars in receivables the past few years – and at bargain basement prices – banks, Wall Street firms, and other players are eyeing the market for a major comeback. According to servicing advisors and warehouse firms, there are...

It remains to be seen how or whether a newly signed law in Illinois to fast-track certain foreclosures will impact a proposal by the Federal Housing Finance Agency to levy extra guaranty fee charges on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgages originated in five slow-foreclosure states, including Illinois, but experts say other states may be inspired to follow suit. Last week, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, D, signed into law SB 16, which among other provisions, would allow servicers to expedite the foreclosure timelines for abandoned or vacant homes from about 18 months to as little as 90 days. Although the bill was...

President Obama, during his State of the Union address, urged Congress to get the HARP 3.0 refinancing program off the ground.

Officially, the GSE net-worth minimum is set at $2.5 million, but some in the industry think it will double eventually.

The CFPB said mortgage lenders can ask the agency "important" interpretation questions on the many rules that it finalized this year.

Fortress Investment Group has raised $1.6 billion to buy mortgage assets, including servicing rights.

The CFPB has warned the mortgage banking industry that it should pay close attention to loss mitigation work when servicing rights are transferred.