Several states had online notarization policies for mortgage closings before the pandemic, but more than half of the states have issued orders in recent months — some of them hastily written.
The parent company of Quicken Loans splurged $905 million on marketing last year, helping the nonbank become the second largest mortgage lender. The firm is now ready to launch an IPO.
Efforts to turn Ocwen around appear to be working. The publicly traded nonbank earned $2.0 million in the second quarter and officials there suggest the lender/servicer will be profitable next year.
There’s a lack of standardization among non-agency MBS servicers regarding reporting of loans in forbearance. Investors are having difficulties understanding what exactly servicers are doing.
Rating services are requiring higher credit enhancement levels and taking negative actions on outstanding deals due to problems stemming from the coronavirus. Fitch finalized new criteria for residential MBS late last week.
Non-agency mortgages aren’t covered under the CARES Act, leaving servicers of such loans to rely on a combination of standards set by the GSEs and individual MBS contracts.