Ocwen Financial Corporation President Ronald M. Faris, has testified before Congress, voicing the mortgage servicer's support of the Obama Administration's Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) and recommended enhancements that Ocwen believes would make the program more effective at preventing foreclosures and helping distressed homeowners.Read more

Stewart Lender Services (SLS), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Stewart Title Company, has announced a comprehensive solution to help mortgage servicers meet the requirements of the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) program. HAFA provides additional options and incentives to borrowers, servicers and investors who utilize a short sale or deed-in-lieu to avoid costly foreclosures.Read more

The National Groups, the parent company of the National Default Servicing LLC suite of mortgage service operations, announced that Mitchell Oringer and Richard T. Fikani have joined the firm, filling two new leadership positions. In response to the increased volume of distressed borrowers and the growing number of foreclosed and REO properties nationwide, The National Groups has been expanding its efforts to help reduce the exposure of both “At Risk” borrowers and "Value Challenged" collateral.Read more

NCLR (National Council of La Raza), the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Center for Community Capital have released The Foreclosure Generation: The Long-Term Impact of the Housing Crisis on Latino Children and Families, a study which uses interviews with Latino families who have suffered a foreclosure to shed light on the damage inflicted by the loss of their home.Read more

Today’s issue is fraud. Fraud affects the secondary markets in two very important ways: The existence of fraud is a valid reason to require a seller to repurchase a mortgage. This is commonly known as a “buyback.” The higher the prevalence of fraud within mortgages originated, the higher the risk of default of these mortgages, and thus, the lower the value of the commodities created and sold in the secondary markets. In other words, the more fraud in our industry, the higher rates will go.Read more

Mortgage fraud is a serious problem … still. Of course, credit standards are much higher today than a few years ago, and it is difficult for a borrower to obtain a mortgage by fibbing about their income or otherwise doctoring their loan application. But where there is a will to defraud, fraudsters will find a way.Read more

Charlotte’s new-home industry continues to struggle because of several factors, including a weak economy, a poor job market, foreclosures, fears of declining home values and tight credit conditions, said Bill Miley, Metrostudy’s Charlotte market manager. “While it is likely that the market hit a bottom in terms of annualized starts and closings in the fourth quarter of 2009, and that single-family detached homes are in short supply in some Charlotte counties, demand for homes in 2010 will depend on job growth,” he said.Read more

The January 2010 Mortgage Monitor report, released by Lender Processing Services Inc. (LPS), a leading provider of mortgage performance data and analytics, showed that home loan delinquency rates in the U.S. have now surpassed 10 percent. Factoring in foreclosures in process, according to the data in LPS' database, the total non-current rate sits at 13.3 percent. When extrapolated to reflect the entire mortgage industry, this rate indicates that more than 7.2 million mortgage loans are now behind on payments. In addition, an estimated one million properties are now owned by banks.Read more

There is no doubt that the housing industry would have led us into a depression had the government not intervened with strong action during the past 12 months. Many are complaining that the government spent too much money and we will be paying for generations to come. However, not many in the mortgage industry are complaining about the programs that specifically help the housing and mortgage markets. Just as I am sure that not many in the auto industry complained about the Cash for Clunkers Program.Read more

A group of state attorneys general and banking regulators predict a devastating acceleration of foreclosures unless policy makers step up efforts to assist homeowners. The State Foreclosure Prevention Working Group has issued a report that cited disturbing trends including a rising tide of delinquent mortgages outpacing servicer outreach and loss-mitigation efforts. The report also offered recommendations for action.Read more