Servicing

Advantage Systems is set to offer enhanced programs to facilitate critical communication between parent companies that possess mortgage divisions. The company's Accounting for Mortgage Bankers (AMB) product can now be utilized with greater leverage to enable mortgage subsidiaries to operate outside of an entity's general ledger system, creating improved efficiency and streamlined processing.

U.S. Bank Home Mortgage's president and CEO, Daniel Arrigoni, has been named the next recipient of the MBA's Investing in Communities Award.

Fewer refinance applications will drive mortgage originations substantially lower over 2012, with loan volume plunging from $1.2 trillion over 2011 to $900 billion over the new year, according to recent study by the Mortgage Bankers Association. The trade group tied historically low mortgage rates, plodding existing-home sales and home prices, and a laggardly unemployment rate to the notion that the U.S. will continue to experience trouble ahead in mortgage originations.

Releasing the hotly anticipated Volcker Rule Tuesday, federal regulatory agencies proposed banning banks from deploying their own capital as collateral in bets on uncertain investments. Enacting Section 619 of the Dodd-Frank Act, the draft regulation vaguely proposes a two-month wait period for financial institutions trading in on investments, more managerial heft from executives, and guidelines that discourage institutions from risk-hedging, among other requirements.

Nationwide, RE/MAX has ranked among the Franchise Times Top 200 annual survey. Coming in at number 15 on the elite list, RE/MAX received its third consecutive award within the franchise competition this year. Joining other top organizations including McDonalds, 7-Eleven, and Subway, RE/MAX ranked among survey honorees thanks in part to its worldwide sales volume.

Even as fewer banks fail nationally, the FDIC recently filed suit against former 11 directors and officers of the institution for which it now serves as receiver, with the goal to collect $23.92 million in damages from the defendants. Citing negligence and oversight failure, the federal agency filed suit against Alpha Bank & Trust, an Alpharetta, Georgia-based bank closed by state regulators in 2008. The FDIC claimed $214.5 million in approximate costs to the Deposit Insurance Fund.

A case over unearned mortgage fees reached the desk of the nation's highest judicial authority Tuesday, as the Supreme Court accepted to hear a suit over unearned fees that mortgage lenders allegedly charged their borrowers. The defendant: Detroit-based QuickenLoans, which an amicus curae brief, filed by borrowers in Louisiana, accuses the lender of failing to abide by the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, the 1974 law responsible for banning financial benefits for lenders and servicers involved in federal loans.

Stocks and shares for mortgage lenders and homebuilding companies got swept into a market updraft following news reports that major European economies had agreed to bail out their Mediterranean counterparts. Several weeks of speculation trail the news, with investors fleeing, then returning to shares and stocks on wobbly notions that Europe├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós two biggest economies, France and Germany, will pull debt-ridden laggards Greece, Italy, and potentially others away from a default scenario.

A recently leaked memo outlining the proposed Volcker rule sent market watchers and industry insiders into a tizzy, according to multiple news outlets. The tentative rule itself ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô required by the Dodd-Frank Act and named after former Fed chief Paul Volcker ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô remains in development at federal regulatory agencies like the Federal Reserve, FDIC, and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The proposed rule defines short- and long-term proprietary trading and rules out third-party brokers, agents, and custodians.

NewDay Financial has another reason to celebrate, announcing that the company's servicing portfolio has ballooned to more than $500 million in government loans. News of the entity's growth within its servicing sector directly follows NewDay's recent honor from the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, which named NewDay as the recipient of its annual Corporate Partner award.