Mobile devices have increasingly become tools that consumers use for banking, payments, budgeting and shopping, according to a new Federal Reserve report that offers useful business intelligence for mortgage lenders and technology vendors. The ubiquity of mobile phones is changing the way consumers access financial services, the Fed found. Twenty-one percent of mobile phone owners have used mobile banking in the past 12 months, and 11 percent of those not currently using mobile banking think that they will probably use it within the next 12 months. The most common use of mobile banking is to check account...

Buried in the fine print of the $25 billion nationwide servicing settlement is a small incentive for the five banks if they agree to waive their right to seek deficiency judgments against distressed borrowers. The five servicers agreed to make some $17 billion in loan modifications and refinances, but they meet those obligations by racking up “credits” for a long list of actions. For every dollar of principal reduction made on a portfolio mortgage with a loan-to-value ratio under 175 percent, for example, they get a dollar of credit toward their obligation. The agreement gives them credit for...

The residential shadow inventory has remained steady at 1.6 million units in January, CoreLogic said in a new report with numbers through January 2012. The firm notes that the flow of distressed sales out of the shadow inventory has been relatively even with the flow of new seriously delinquent loans into the inventory. The 1.6 million units are equal to a six-month supply, which is a year-over-year improvement from January 2011, when the 1.8 million units represented an eight-month supply. Of the units currently in shadow inventory, 800,000 are seriously delinquent, 410,000 are already in the foreclosure...

Many non-agency MBS investors are upset with the $25 billion servicing settlement involving 49 state attorneys general, eight federal agencies and the nation’s five largest servicers, the full terms of which were filed in U.S. District Court this week. Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Ally Financial will receive some credit for modifying loans they service but do not own, although several of these firms have indicated that they plan to focus their efforts on portfolio loans. The Association of Mortgage Investors said the settlement establishes a precedent under which the bad debts of...

The documents governing a proposed $25.0 billion settlement involving five major banks include greater incentives for principal reduction loan modifications on portfolio loans rather than loans in non-agency mortgage-backed securities. However, non-agency MBS investors remain concerned that they could take losses due to the settlement. The consent judgments against Ally Financial, Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo were filed in federal court this week, a month after the settlement was announced by 49 state attorneys general and the federal government ...

The $25.0 billion settlement involving five bank servicers includes refinance eligibility requirements that differ from the settlement’s loan modification program. Only portfolio loans are eligible to meet the settlement’s refi requirements, unlike the mod program, which includes portfolio loans, mortgages in non-agency mortgage-backed securities and FHA loans. Under the pending settlement with 49 state attorneys general and the federal government, Ally Financial, Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo must dedicate $2.78 billion toward refis for certain borrowers with negative equity ...

The Securities and Exchange Commission this week filed a lawsuit against three former executives of Thornburg Mortgage regarding disclosure and accounting issues in early 2008. The former executives of the now bankrupt jumbo lender denied the charges and vowed to prevail in court. “Thornburg’s executives schemed to drop a disingenuous annual report into the public realm at the most opportune moment possible while knowing it was merely the calm before the next storm,” said Donald Hoerl, director of the SEC’s Denver regional office. Larry Goldstone and Clay Simmons, the former CEO and chief financial officer of Thornburg, respectively, countered that ...

RPM Mortgage announced last week that it is offering jumbos with balances of up to $2.5 million for no-limit cash-out refinances or home purchase. Fully amortized and interest-only payment options are available. The lender said it will hold the loans in portfolio. “Between extremely low interest rates and smart prices for homes, either on the move-up market or creating liquidity for investment purposes, this product has the ability to serve both types of borrowers,” said Rob Hirt, CEO of RPM Mortgage. “This exclusive RPM product was eleven months in the making and is our contribution toward helping the real estate market to get back on its feet.” [Includes three briefs]

Flagstar Bank’s recent $133 million settlement with the Department of Justice to resolve fraudulent FHA lending practices could increase lender overlays on the FHA product, resulting in fewer borrowers being able to qualify for an FHA-insured loan, according to analysts. The Flagstar settlement, which came in the wake of the $25 billion national settlement between servicers and state and federal agencies, exacerbates the situation for lenders that already have previous concerns about the severity of FHA fines, including treble damages, for violations of FHA’s highly complex and technical rules, analysts said. Whatever relief FHA lenders may have drawn from the robo-signing settlement was ...

Industry experts digging through thousands of pages of legal documents associated with the $25 billion foreclosure settlement agreed to by five major servicers mostly found what they expected: a complex package of mixed forms of borrower support that the banks are expected to implement sooner rather than later. The settlements involving Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Ally Financial and 49 state attorneys general will have to be approved by the U.S. District Court in Washington, DC. Although critics found grounds for complaint about the varying incentives for loan modification and...