Mortgage servicers participating in a recent servicing conference sponsored by Information Management Network described how they use a variety of business strategies and often change gears to adjust to evolving market conditions. Jorge Carvallo, a vice president at Banesco USA, characterized mortgage servicing rights as a “necessary evil” that his community bank generally tries to avoid. “We sell most of it because it’s economically difficult for us to ...

A House bill with bipartisan support would delay Basel III capital requirements relating to mortgage servicing rights for all but the largest banks. The House Financial Services Committee this week approved, 49-9, H.R. 1408, the Mortgage Servicing Asset Capital Requirements Act. Introduced by Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-CO, the bill would require federal banking regulators to study the appropriate capital requirements for mortgage servicing assets for ...

Third Federal Savings & Loan in Cleveland is wooing first-time homebuyers with an offer of a $1,000 credit to spend as they wish if they close a purchase mortgage with the lender. There is no catch, said David Reavis, marketing manager for Third Federal. “There are no points and fees on the back end to cover the credit,” he said. “Third Federal is paying for it. We think the combination of a competitive rate and the $1,000 in the form of a check is an attractive offer that will ...

A company called NotaryCam is raising eyebrows – and hopes for the future of e-mortgages – with the deployment of what it claims is the world’s only notary service that securely and legally notarizes documents online within minutes via live web conference from anywhere in the world. Requiring just a standard webcam, NotaryCam, based in Alexandria, VA, can produce a digital version of notarized documents within minutes. And with browser-to-browser ...

In 2014, real estate owned vendor Altisource Portfolio Solutions grew its service revenue by a handsome 42 percent to $938 million while earnings crept up 3 percent to $134.5 million. So why is its stock price down 88 percent over the past year with both investors and stock analysts heading for the exits? To understand the plight of the publicly traded REO vendor, you first have to understand where it came from. ASPS is one of four spin-off companies of ...

After years of steady declines, the negative equity rate leveled off in the fourth quarter of 2014, according to industry analysts. The end to the trend was seen as a major turning point, with implications for loss mitigation efforts as increases to home prices aren’t enough to help many underwater borrowers. Some 16.9 percent of mortgage borrowers were in a negative equity position as of the end of the fourth quarter, according to Zillow. That was down from a peak of ...

Mortgages with credit scores exceeding 740 continued to dominate the conventional conforming market in 2014, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of loans sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac last year. High-score borrowers accounted for 62.0 percent of loans securitized through the two government-sponsored enterprises in 2014. They accounted for an even bigger 66.2 percent of purchase-mortgages loans ... [Includes one data chart]

Home-equity lending gained modest momentum during the fourth quarter of 2014, although the outstanding supply of second-lien mortgage debt continued its seven-year decline. Mortgage lenders originated an estimated $21 billion of home-equity loans, including home-equity lines of credit and closed-end second mortgages, during the fourth quarter. That was up 5.0 percent from the third quarter and brought full-year production ... [Includes one data chart]

The headline might sound promising, but keep in mind that during the housing boom of 2003 to 2007, the industry averaged nearly $340 billion a year in home-equity originations.

Real estate agents prefer to work with lenders that have a local presence, but call-center operations have improved their reputations among agents, according to new research by Campbell Surveys, based on a national survey sponsored by Inside Mortgage Finance Publications. “Survey results show that Quicken Loans’ call-center model can be an accepted alternative to the local branch/local loan officer model, at least for some homebuyers and real estate agents ...