Mortgage Insurance Companies of America (MICA) has released its monthly statistical report for November with member companies reporting a total of $879,707.7 million in primary insurance in force for the month. “Mortgage insurers are helping to prevent foreclosures by working with loan servicers, investors and lenders to modify and refinance home loans and make them more affordable,” said Suzanne C. Hutchinson, executive vice president of MICA. “Mortgage insurers are playing a key role in the national effort to spark a recovery in the housing market.”Read more

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), as part of its crackdown on mortgage scams, has charged three more defendants with promoting phony mortgage relief services. According to court papers filed by the FTC, the three defendants were part of an operation that falsely claimed that in exchange for up-front fees ranging from $299 to $699, it would get consumers’ mortgages modified, lowering their monthly mortgage payments.Read more

Consumer protection lawsuits were filed against four loan modification or “mortgage rescue” businesses, along with their officers, who are accused of deceiving Pennsylvania consumers seeking help modifying their mortgage loans. “Consumers struggling with high interest rates or large loan payments were drawn to these businesses by misleading ads, deceptive Web sites and false promises of ‘permanent changes’ to their mortgages,” Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett said.Read more

Wipro Gallagher Solutions (WGS), an enterprise loan origination software (LOS) technology, has announced the launch of its loan modification software solution. The loan modification software contains functionality that automates the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) and also has the capability to handle other loan modification programs. By leveraging best-of-breed features and functions, WGS has created an intelligent product that guides lenders through all aspects of the loan modification process, from the initial seamless-servicing upload to investor reporting.Read more

The federal bank and thrift regulatory agencies have issued a final rule providing that mortgage loans modified under the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Home Affordable Mortgage Program (HAMP) will generally retain the risk weight appropriate to the mortgage loan prior to modification.

The agencies adopted as final their interim final rule issued on June 30, 2009, with one modification. The final rule clarifies that mortgage loans whose HAMP modifications are in the trial period, and not yet permanent, qualify for the risk-based capital treatment contained in the rule.Read more

Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray has filed a lawsuit against American Home Mortgage Servicing Inc. (AHMSI), a Texas-based company servicing more than 12,000 sub-prime and prime mortgage loans in Ohio. The lawsuit alleges numerous violations of the Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act including but not limited to: Incompetent and inadequate customer service, failure to respond to requests for assistance, failure to offer timely or affordable loss mitigation options to borrowers and unfair and deceptive loan modification terms.Read more

A Central Florida homeowner forced into foreclosure has filed a class-action lawsuit against KB Home, Countrywide Financial and LandSafe Appraisal Services, claiming the three conspired to rig housing prices in Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina, costing home purchasers millions of dollars, and fueling the collapse of the region's housing market. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Orlando, Fla. on Oct.Read more

Wolters Kluwer Financial Services announced the company has expanded its comprehensive Loss Mitigation Service to include fair lending compliance consulting. The company’s experts with strong experience and knowledge in helping financial institutions avoid discriminatory lending practices can now be deployed on-site at mortgage servicers to help them meet all state and federal fair lending requirements when modifying loans for distressed borrowers.Read more

BankUnited has named Raymond S. Barbone executive vice president, mortgage services. In his new role, Barbone will oversee loan administration and servicing, default administration, REO disposition and mortgage modification efforts. Barbone joins BankUnited from ABN AMRO Mortgage Group in Jacksonville, Fla., where he was a group senior vice president for operations and oversaw a staff of 1,300 and a portfolio exceeding $240 billion.Read more

LenderLive Network Inc., a provider of business process outsourcing and technology to the financial industry, has announced that it has performed at least one of its services on more than 600,000 loans under the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) campaign. In turn, the company has put approximately 200,000 borrowers in trial plans to date. HAMP is part of the federally mandated Making Home Affordable program, which touts allowing up to nine million Americans to refinance or modify their home loans.Read more