It has been four years since fault lines in the subprime market sent tremors through the rest of the mortgage industry and three years since the global collapse of financial markets, but lender behavior today remains driven by fear. Originators ask themselves three questions in the current market, said William Rayburn, CEO at mortgage technology provider FNC, during a panel session at the ABS East conference sponsored last week by Information Management Network. Lenders want to know whether the application will close it costs them money if it cant and whether they can sell the loan if it closes, he said. Just as important...
Consumers who shop for their mortgages online are increasingly of a higher overall credit quality, and their approach to shopping online is growing more sophisticated, according to a new benchmarking study by Mortgagebot LLC. And that raises the ante for mortgage lenders that want to compete in cyberspace, said officials at the Mequon, WI-based information technology provider. The three most significant take-aways for lenders from the new survey have to do with growing borrower sophistication (and the resultant increase in customer expectation), the lender rate of online technology adoption and what online mortgage lending experts call...
Overwhelmed by the tidal wave of foreclosures and under intense scrutiny by lawmakers and regulators, the mortgage industry and default servicers in particular are being challenged like never before to keep up with complex, ever-changing compliance rules and they are in dire need of a technology solution to keep up with the changes. Compliance technology vendors such as Irvine, CA-based DecisionReady are striving to keep up with the demands of their clients, who may not exactly know what they want but know they need a solution that keeps them connected and on top of the latest legal and procedural changes, according to...
MetLife announced last week that it wants to sell its mortgage banking business, but regulatory and legal issues that are partly driving the firms retreat may also make it hard to find a buyer. Nowadays, starting from scratch may make more sense than buying someone elses problems. MetLife explained in a press release that the decision was prompted by an uncertain marketplace and regulatory environment [that requires] a tremendous amount of resources both in terms of people and capital to effectively compete in and profitably grow the forward mortgage business. Doing so would divert these resources away from...
Small and mid-sized lenders participating in the Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities program may gain more financing flexibility and a more competitive footing against the giants in the market as the agency makes it easier to pledge mortgage servicing rights. Ginnie this week announced a revised Acknowledgement Agreement that will make it simpler for the agency to honor servicing pledges and permit the transfer of MSRs. Until now, Ginnie servicers that need cash to honor their servicing advance responsibilities have not been able to put their MSRs up as collateral for financing, explained Ted Tozer, president of Ginnie Mae, in...
Closer scrutiny of portfolio loan quality and growing repurchase demands have pushed mortgage software providers MasterServ Financial and The Prieston Group to develop products to help lenders manage their portfolio risks and reduce buyback risks. MasterServ Financial, a technology solution provider to the mortgage banking industry, is expanding its portfolio monitoring product from distressed real estate loans and REO management to new portfolios of performing mortgage loans. With the shift in real estate values, a weak economy and high unemployment rate, it is very difficult to determine whether the loans in a lenders portfolio today are...
Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems has been at the center of two significant developments recently that bring more legal clarity to the mortgage industrys foreclosure practices and could portend a quicker resolution of an enormous number of cases currently tied up in foreclosure. Early this week, the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari in Gomes v. Countrywide, declining to reconsider lower court rulings in the case, essentially affirming MERS authority to foreclose in California in the process. The petition for a writ of certiorari is denied, the high court said in its certiorari summary dispositions. The chief justice [John Roberts] took...
The concept of the paperless mortgage is on the fast track to becoming the norm rather than the exception as technology advances improve productivity and influence thinking throughout the lending chain, according to a survey by Xerox Mortgage Services. Xeroxs seventh annual Path to Paperless survey found that most mortgage professionals now think online collaboration across multiple platforms is a key component to paperless mortgage adoption. Ninety-six percent of survey respondents indicated that working together through an electronic folder is crucial to achieving a more...
States are moving quickly to implement laws and regulations facilitating eExamination of mortgage lenders, leveraging technological innovation to bring the industry closer towards the goal of self-examination and self-regulation. We are close to 30 states that are doing eExaminations, and were trying to bring on additional states as we move forward, said Michael Chan, vice president of technology vendor Compliance Ease. One of the reasons why I would say were reaching a tipping point is that state regulators are conducting limited-scope electronic exams, he added. The idea behind that is...
Now may be a good time for ABS investors to broaden their horizons and look into exotic asset classes, such as solar panel financing. Over the past few decades, most of the sheer volume of securitizations has come from the cash flows of consumer asset receivables, such as mortgages, credit cards and auto loans, said Chris DiAngelo, a partner with Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP in New York City, who moderated an industry discussion on nontraditional securitizations sponsored by the American Securitization Forum this week. Although the auto market has returned to relatively normal issuance volumes, mortgage and...