Data through January 2013, released by S&P Dow Jones Indices and Experian for the S&P/Experian Consumer Credit Default Indices, a comprehensive measure of changes in consumer credit defaults, showed a decrease in national default rates during the month. The national composite was 1.63 percent in January 2013, down from 1.72 percent in December 2012. The first mortgage default rate moved down to 1.58 percent in January, from 1.68 percent in December. The second mortgage rate was unchanged at 0.69 percent since December.Click to continue

Two mortgage loan officers have been sentenced in federal court for recruiting straw buyers to purchase properties at inflated prices and then distributing the excess loan funds among themselves, the straw buyers, and others involved in the scheme. United States District Court Judge Joan N. Ericksen sentenced Chad Arthur Anderson and Troy Allen Huston, both of Chisago City, to federal prison terms of 60 months and 57 months, respectively, on one count of conspiracy to commit mortgage fraud through the use of interstate wires.Click to continue

RealtyTrac has released its U.S. Foreclosure Market Report for November 2012, which shows foreclosure filings—default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions—were reported on 180,817 U.S. properties in November, a decrease of three percent from October and down 19 percent from November 2011—marking the 26th consecutive month with an annual decrease in foreclosure activity. The report also shows one in every 728 U.S. housing units with a foreclosure filing during the month.Click to continue

ServiceLink, an end-to-end origination, servicing and default solutions provider for mortgage lenders and servicers, has announced that Kevin Coop has joined as executive vice president of enterprise strategy. Coop will coordinate overall business development for ServiceLink’s originations and default sales teams, marketing group and product development strategy team. He also manages the continued development and execution of the enterprise growth strategy for ServiceLink’s top accounts, while growing the emerging market segment and strategy.Click to continue

RealtyTrac has released its U.S. Foreclosure Market Report for October 2012, which shows foreclosure filings—default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions—were reported on 186,455 U.S. properties in October, an increase of three percent from September, but still down 19 percent from October 2011. The report also shows one in every 706 U.S. housing units with a foreclosure filing during the month.Click to continue

Christy L. Romero, the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP); Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York; and Steve A. Linick, the Inspector General of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) have announced that the U.S. has filed a civil mortgage fraud lawsuit against Bank of America Corporation and its predecessors Countrywide Financial Corporation and Countrywide Home Loans Inc.Click to continue

Quandis Inc. announced the release of a Web-based skip trace application to locate individuals who are in default via a centralized platform. The solution can be utilized by mortgage companies to quickly locate, contact and personally engage with borrowers who are in distressed financial situations. Quandis’ skip trace solution is designed for use by servicers, lenders, banks, default attorneys, loss mitigation centers, third-party collection agencies and essentially any entity that needs to locate individuals.Click to continue

Lender Processing Services Inc. (LPS) has announced that it has added two supplemental data modules to enhance McDash, its market-leading loan-level database. The new modules give mortgage professionals access to more data fields than ever to enhance decision-making, support due diligence, manage risk and make operational tasks more efficient. The new modules—the Loss Mitigation Module and the Mortgage Scores Module—deliver specific information for specific purposes.Click to continue

Dart Appraisal has announced that it will offer live Webinar training for U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) real estate-owned (REO) property appraisals—a specialized sector of Federal Housing Administration (FHA) appraisals—to appraisers through its Dart Academy continuing education program. The Webinar is open to all appraisers interested in expanding their expertise to this specialized sector, as well as those currently appraising HUD-REO properties.Click to continue

RealtyTrac has released its U.S. Foreclosure Market Report for September and the third quarter of 2012, which shows foreclosure filings—default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions—were reported on 180,427 U.S. properties in September, a decrease of seven percent from the previous month and down 16 percent from September 2011. September’s total was the lowest U.S. total since July 2007.Click to continue