Hoping to capitalize on the growing market for special servicing, Walter Investment Management announced last week that it plans to acquire Green Tree Credit Solutions. Walter said it will purchase the special servicer for $1.065 billion and Walter will have to drop its status as a real-estate investment trust. Green Tree currently services...

The Mortgage Bankers Association has announced David Stevens, currently the assistant secretary for housing at the Department of Housing and Urban Development and commissioner of the FHA, will take over as MBA president and chief executive officer after John Courson leaves the association June 1. The AARP filed...

Discussion over the size of civil fines to be imposed on mortgage servicers continues in the wake of a draft term sheet of the settlement agreement proposed by state attorneys general that was floated last week. A spokesman for Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller said...

Arizona. The state Senate has passed S.B. 1259, which would require lenders to produce the full chain of title or risk the foreclosure sale being voided. The GOP-sponsored bill passed by a vote of 28-2 and is now being considered in the state House. The purpose of the bill is to require...

Federal ReserveLO Compensation Webinar. The Fed will host a webinar on March 17 to answer questions and provide an update on the controversial loan officer compensation rule, which takes effect April 1. Securities and Exchange Commission Mortgage Firm, Top Executive Charged...

Federal regulators are deeply divided on the amount of fines and the scope of procedural changes that should be imposed against major mortgage servicers to settle state and federal claims of fraud and other improprieties in the home foreclosure process. While no settlement agreement has been reached...

Many of the allegations made in the context of mortgage foreclosures are making their way into bankruptcy courts as a result of the robo-signing mess, according to compliance experts. Bankruptcy judges are now looking closely at mortgage documents, particularly with respect to proofs-of-claim and other affidavits and attestations of ownership and standing that must be made...

Major mortgage servicers are bracing for the worst as a result of the recent state and federal investigations of foreclosure irregularities, securities filings show. Foreclosure-related probes by numerous federal agencies and a multistate task force of attorneys general could result...

Florida. State Attorney General Pam Bondi has launched a civil investigation into the foreclosure practices of a Ft. Lauderdale law firm shortly after Fannie Mae quit sending business to the firm. Ben-Ezra & Katz and its principals, Marc Ben-Ezra and Marvin Katz, are...

House Financial Services CommitteeBills to Shut Down Ineffective Foreclosure Programs. Financial Services Committee Chairman Spencer Bachus, R-AL, announced a subcommittee hearing and a full committee markup of four bills that will eliminate...