Servicing

Realtors and financial professionals are gaining a high-end concierge through Guaranteed Home Mortgage Company Inc.'s initiation of a new, customized service that seeks to give participants an edge.

Charter Financial Corporation is growing, via its acquisition of The First National Bank of Florida. Conducting the deal through its wholly owned subsidiary, CharterBank, Charter structured an agreement with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to assume all deposits as well as the majority of assets of the Milton, Florida-based bank. The First National Bank of Florida was officially declared closed by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the FDIC was named as its receiver.

Complex financial evaluation is nothing new for the Federal Reserve, but federal regulators exploring Capital One Financial Corp.'s potential acquisition of ING Groep NV's online banking platform, ING Direct USA, are applying extreme examination to the transaction. According to the Fed, Capital One's proposed purchase of ING's U.S. web-based banking business could create a financial institution so enormous and complicated that it could affect the broader marketplace, and the Fed has issued a two-page letter asking for responses to critical queries.

Locke, Lord, Bissell & Liddell overturned assumptions about the still-weak legal jobs market by adding a Regina McClendon to its payrolls at the firm's San Francisco office.

The surprise resignation of a key official at the European Central Bank sent stocks and shares plunging in markets across Europe and overseas, furthering fears about a global economic slowdown and the potential for sovereign defaults across the European Union. Sagging stocks doubled up woes for Bank of America, whose CEO, Brian Moynihan, announced plans for some 40,000 layoffs as the mortgage giant reassesses its capital position in the market and undertakes restructuring efforts, according to multiple news reports.

Amid national bank failures that recently ticked up to 70, the FDIC announced Friday that it will stand up a new networking platform that seeks to make it easier for small investors to take a slice of the pie.

President Barack Obama rolled out a $447 billion jobs bill and touted a major refinance proposal in a recent address, estimating that some 2.9 million homeowners could refinance their mortgages at current rates.

Speaking before Congress' joint session Thursday evening, President Barack Obama unveiled a $447 billion jobs bill - and plans to allow millions of eligible homeowners to refinance their mortgages at current rates.

Clear Capital joins a list of firms and trade groups whose batch of surveys and reports dished on consumer confidence, market health, and job growth this week. On Thursday Clear Capital forecasted glacial prices.

Freddie Mac and HUD recently stepped up home relief programs for eligible borrowers who saw their property and prized possessions wash away with the tidewaters of Hurricane Irene. The availability of federal relief will allow qualifying homeowners in distress to gain reprieve from late fees and penalties likely to result from delayed mortgage payments, avoid foreclosure and eviction from their homes, and take advantage of HUD insurance policies to revamp their residences.