Ocwen Financial faced mixed results in servicing litigation recently while avoiding further downgrades of its corporate issuer default rating. Last week, Ocwen announced that it had agreed to settle two lawsuits brought by the Department of Justice involving the Home Affordable Modification Program and FHA mortgages. The pending $30 million settlement involves alleged violations of the False Claims Act, among other issues. The lawsuits were brought in 2012 by ...

After declining for 10 consecutive quarters, the serious delinquency rate on subprime mortgages increased in the first quarter of 2016, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The non-seasonally-adjusted serious delinquency rate on subprime mortgages was 12.41 percent at the end of the first quarter of 2016, up from 12.39 percent the previous quarter and down from 15.17 percent in the first quarter of 2015. The serious delinquency rate ... [Includes six briefs]

Falling delinquency and foreclosure rates over the last few years have continued to break recent records, according to industry sources, thanks to several factors including an improved housing market and price appreciation. As of the end of March, only 4.95 percent of the $5.08 trillion of home mortgages covered by the Inside Mortgage Finance Large Servicer Delinquency Index were in default or foreclosure status. That was down from 5.54 percent at the end of the fourth quarter. The figures are not seasonally adjusted. The Mortgage Bankers Association reported...[Includes one data table]

Ongoing declines in the volume of subprime mortgages outstanding have done little to limit regulatory issues involving subprime servicing. An estimated $287.0 billion in subprime mortgages were outstanding as of the end of the first quarter of 2016, down 16.3 percent from the first quarter of 2015, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released...[Includes one data table]

Thanks to a resurgence of deals backed by vehicle-related financing, non-mortgage ABS production rebounded strongly in the first three months of 2016, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis and ranking. But ABS issuance levels came up well short of the volume generated during the first three months of last year, and a few key segments continued to limp along. A total of $41.42 billion of non-mortgage ABS were issued...[Includes two data tables]

More than a year after state regulators proposed prudential standards for nonbank servicers, there’s no specific timeframe for releasing final standards. Officials at the Conference of State Bank Supervisors note that they are hoping for a coordinated approach with federal entities to regulate nonbank servicers. In March 2015, the American Association of Residential Mortgage Regulators and CSBS proposed standards for nonbank servicers. The proposal included baseline ...

A district court of appeals in Florida ruled in favor of a borrower this week in a case involving a foreclosure on a mortgage in a non-agency mortgage-backed security. The District Court of Appeal of the State of Florida, Fourth District, found that the trustee on a non-agency MBS issued by Bear Stearns in 2006 didn’t have the proper documentation to complete a foreclosure initiated in 2009. “An exhibit filed during the trial contained no indication that ... [Includes three briefs]

Ocwen Financial recently reported a large loss in the fourth quarter of 2015 along with investigations by a number of regulators, leading to a sharp decline in the company’s stock price and pressure to restructure its priorities. Ocwen took a pre-tax loss of $129.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2015. The biggest contributor to the loss was a non-cash charge of $101.9 million to establish a valuation allowance against deferred tax assets in the United States and the U.S. Virgin Islands ...

The subprime servicing sector is a shell of its former self, with the dollar volume of loans outstanding declining by 75.8 percent in the past nine years, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. Loans originated during the subprime boom continue to pay off or go through foreclosure while new originations have been few and far between. An estimated $300.0 billion in subprime servicing was ... [Includes one data chart]

Major servicers participating in the non-agency portion of the Home Affordable Modification Program have improperly ended mods for a number of borrowers, according to data from the Treasury Department. The Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program is urging the Treasury to take actions to prevent servicers from terminating mods that meet HAMP guidelines. “Treasury’s findings in its on-site visits to the largest seven mortgage servicers in HAMP over ...