In short order, Wingspan faces a dilemma that many of its peers are facing: rapidly improving real estate values are snuffing out delinquencies and draining the supply of problem loans.
Mortgage regulators have sounded alarms and written new rules in response to the growing market share of nonbanks in the servicing market, but nonbank servicers were much more dominant 10 years ago. At the end of 2005, nonbanks accounted for 40.6 percent of mortgage servicing outstanding at the time. At the end of March 2015, nonbanks were making headlines because they had a combined 27.3 percent share of the market. …
Two weeks ago, specialty servicer Wingspan Portfolio Services shuttered its Melbourne, FL, office, leaving 150 servicing workers without a job. But more bad news may be on the way for the once fast-growing “contract” servicer. According to industry officials close to the company, the privately held Wingspan is in need of new contracts – badly. …
Guaranty fees as a whole have more than doubled since 2009, from 22 basis points to a record high of 58 bps in 2014, said the Federal Housing Finance Agency in a report released this week analyzing the fees. The 58 bps includes 15 bps of upfront loan-level pricing adjustments and 43 bps as part of an “ongoing fee.”Fees also jumped year-over-year as they were at 51 basis points in 2013. Two FHFA-directed increases in 2012 are the primary drivers for the sizeable increase from 2011, when the average fee was 26 bps, then rose in 2014. Higher fees have been met with strong resistance from originators...