Mortgage servicing rights have little value in today’s secondary market, but investment bankers predict that one day, maybe soon, this volatile asset will once again rise from the ashes.

The GSEs reportedly are in the hunt to hire special servicers to handle COVID-19-related forbearance claims. The reason: Some nonbanks may be living on borrowed time.

Megaservicer Mr. Cooper anticipates a large MSR mark for the first quarter, thanks to lower rates and COVID-19. The big question: How bad will it be for the rest of the industry?

The first quarter is over and financial blood is in the streets. Now comes the hard part: figuring out MSR values that have been slammed by lower rates and (coming) delinquencies. It won’t be pretty.

PennyMac wants out of its servicing platform marriage with vendor Black Knight. As might be expected, lawsuits and nasty allegations are the order of the day. The two have been working together for 10-plus years.

Loan broker LendingTree continues to earn a profit while net earnings at Ocwen Financial remain elusive.

Witnesses at a House subcommittee hearing on the reverse mortgage program called for improved servicer oversight, mandatory loss mitigation for new HECMs and a new risk rating system.

The FHFA is doing its best to make certain the expansionist tendencies of Fannie and Freddie are held in check. Also, a crackdown on g-fee “deals.”

Experts doubt the non-agency market can pick up the slack of any reduction in the GSEs’ business once the qualified mortgage “patch” expires.

FHFA Director Mark Calabria this week ended a pilot program that allowed the GSEs to extend lines of credit to nonbanks pledging servicing rights as collateral.