The final rule simplifies regulations on insurance coverage for deposits held in mortgage servicing accounts. But the changes don’t go into effect until April 1, 2024.

Few states have laws defining an “abandoned property,” leaving servicers with local ordinances and case law as their guides in many foreclosure procedures.

Fed researchers find nonbanks improve the quality of their mortgage servicing by specializing in low-income borrowers.

There is some evidence that production was less efficient in the third quarter, but profitability was up anyway. Servicing income was clearly stronger. (Includes data chart.)

The banking industry grew its servicing-for-others accounts in the third quarter of 2021. Chase, Truist and Fifth Third accounted for a significant share of the industry's gain.

Lenders are at the mercy of United Wholesale Mortgage’s pricing decisions, according to UWM’s president and CEO; Finance of America is seeing better returns from reverse mortgage lending than from traditional mortgages; the IRS released guidance on the Homeowner Assistance Fund.

Rocket Mortgage sold over $40 billion of agency MSRs during the third quarter in one of the busiest servicing-transfer markets ever. Ocwen Financial, Freedom Mortgage and a trio of banks were among the buyers.

Given the home price spike seen in the past 18 months, many distressed borrowers have enough equity to sell their homes rather than face foreclosure. Still, previous practices suggest that a notable share of borrowers with strong equity positions will go through foreclosure.

For refinances completed during the second quarter, 28% of borrowers remained with the servicer of their previous mortgage, the largest share since the pandemic started, according to Black Knight.

It was thought that higher capital requirements proposed on Ginnie Mae issuers would ding valuations of the MSR asset. But so far, that hasn’t happened. Credit: strong demand and declining forbearance ratios.