The deadline for the state attorneys general to determine whether they will join the multistate settlement of mortgage foreclosure and servicing practices has been extended from Feb. 3 to Feb. 6. While some AGs have definitively stated whether they are in or not, Nevadas Catherine Cortez Masto and others are still seeking more information about the settlement terms. For a settlement thats taken more than 15 months to negotiate, few are surprised the deadline has been pushed back. If anything, the mere three-day delay is welcome news for observers used to more than a year of back and forth. The new...
The U.S. residential housing market used to provide the lions share of business for non-agency asset securitization, but experts at this weeks American Securitization Forum say it will take years for the sorely damaged housing market to recover and the nationalized mortgage finance system to be overhauled. Supply and demand fundamentals in the housing market are severely broken, said Laurie Goodman, senior managing director at Amherst Securities Group. There are some 2.9 million borrowers in foreclosure or more than 12 months delinquent, plus another 400,000 units of real estate-owned properties. With...
Analysts have mixed expectations for residential mortgage servicing in 2012, with some seeing it as a year of foreclosure-prevention reforms and others anticipating a higher level of vigilance in new deals and loan quality. Although issuance of non-agency MBS will be modest again in 2012, new deals will have more comprehensive reviews of originators, more reliable and better-quality loan-level data, and stronger enforcement of breaches of representations and warranties, according to Moodys Investors Service. New deals will better address legal issues relating to foreclosure challenges. Some of the deals...
The never-ending board game over mortgage foreclosure processing errors flailed through another week of meetings between state attorneys general, top lenders and federal officials that were so informal many didnt confirm that they were in attendance. A leaked copy of a new draft settlement indicates that the latest offer on the table includes $17 billion in principal reductions and a $5 billion reserve account for state and federal programs. According to the Associated Press, some of that account would pay for $1,800 checks to homeowners affected by banks deceptive practices. Another $3...
Its not just federal regulators and lawmakers that are complicating the business of mortgage servicing while the industry continues digging itself out of a housing market collapse of near-biblical proportions. States have become increasingly active and aggressive, and theres little sign thats about to end any time soon. Three years ago, servicers were just beginning to understand the extent to which state legislative efforts could complicate, extend and expand the cost of the foreclosure process, said Nanci Weissgold and Morey Barnes Yost, attorneys in the consumer financial services practice ...
The Democratic and Republican state attorneys general are scheduled to meet separately Monday, Jan. 23, to discuss the foreclosure practices settlement terms sent out last week, amidst varying criticism that the agreement will be either a shakedown for banks or an inadequate answer to homeowner woes. Mondays meetings come after Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan announced last week that the pending settlement was very close and would benefit about 1 million families through principal reduction for homeowners and, in some cases, direct compensation for people wrongfully ...
California. In Balderas v. Countrywide Bank, N.A., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently ruled that the Truth In Lending Acts delivery obligation requires borrowers be permitted to keep written copies of the right-to-rescind notice. The court noted that to deliver the notice as per TILA requires a permanent physical transfer from one party to another, as opposed to momentary delivery. Illinois. Earlier this month, the Department of Financial and Professional Regulations published amendments to the states mortgage originator licensing requirements. One change ...
Principal reduction to ease negative equity situations may have a lot of positive effects for homeowners, but recent research suggests it may have little impact on worker mobility. A forthcoming working paper by Sam Schulhofer-Wohl, of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, contends that research showing underwater borrowers are 33 percent less likely to move to better employment markets is flawed because it ignores key data. In an analysis of Census Bureau housing data, Schulhofer-Wohl reached the opposite conclusion, that underwater borrowers are more likely to move, suggesting that principal...
Analysts are divided regarding the outlook for Ocwen Financial as the special servicer has grown significantly in the past two years. Fitch Ratings and Moodys Investors Service recently downgraded Ocwen and Saxon Mortgage due to concerns about Ocwens growth strategy and financial standing while others have endorsed Ocwen and its practices. Ocwen handled a $106.1 billion portfolio at the end of the third quarter of 2011, including $74.9 billion in subprime mortgages. The total included some of the $38.6 billion in subprime loans the servicer acquired from Litton Loan Servicing. At the beginning of February, the company is set to close acquisitions of the Saxon platform and its $26.6 billion portfolio as well as $15.0 billion in non-prime mortgage servicing rights from ...
Nationstar Mortgages servicing portfolio has grown significantly in the past year due to acquisitions from banks, a trend the companys officials suggest will continue. There is significant room for market penetration as larger banks dispose of servicing assets, the nonbank servicer said in a recent presentation to investors. Nationstar is touting its growth prospects even after increasing its servicing portfolio to $102.7 billion at the end of the third quarter of 2011 from $12.7 billion at the end of 2007. The company owns 49.2 percent of the holdings, with the rest being subserviced for others ...