Servicing

On Tuesday the Federal Housing Finance Agency reported a slight 0.8 percent rise in home prices from March to April, representing a positive note in a brittle housing market.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency released research on this week indicating a greater-than-expected drive to high conforming jumbo mortgages (HCJMs) by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, raising questions about the long-term impact their buying spree may have on private markets. According to the research, the government-sponsored enterprises walked away this year with approximately 55 percent of HCJMs in 10 of the nation's high-cost counties, a number totaling approximately 50,000 mortgages worth over $30 billion.

Adding to an innovative new remediation platform it launched in May, the National Association of Field Mortgage Services announced key additions that propose to enhance the speed and ease in field services.

Spooked by speculation that the federal government may withhold bailout funds from banks deemed too big to fail in another crisis, Moody's Investors Service placed the debt ratings for three leading banking institutions under review in June, according to NASDAQ.com. The ratings agency said that the reviews will assess deposit, senior debt, and senior subordinated debt ratings. If lowered, the new ratings would downgrade the banks' reputation as financially solvent institutions, diminishing their abilities to borrow large sums and meet bottom lines.

MountainView Servicing Group, a subsidiary of MountainView Capital Holdings, announced Monday that it will serve as the exclusive advisor for a $188 million Ginnie Mae servicing portfolio. The portfolio is comprised entirely of fixed-rate mortgage loans, 98.1 percent of which are Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans, with 99.9 percent retail origination and a weighted average interest rate of 5.95 percent.

On Monday the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released a statement announcing the nomination of E.J. Burke, a senior executive and director at KeyBank Real Estate Capital and Corporate Banking Services, as its vice-chair. Burke has more than three decades of experience in the mortgage banking business, At KeyBank, he also served as head of real estate capital markets, presiding over its commercial mortgage division as managing director.

Dollar Bank, one of the nation's largest mutual savings banks, is teaming up with Fiserv, Inc. to institute a single online platform that streamlines all of the bank's borrower loan information. Fiserv's online, real-time servicing solution consolidates borrower information for banks, credit unions, and investors. The company says by pooling all of Dollar Bank's consumer loans onto one servicing platform, the lender can realize additional cost savings and better serve its customers at the same time.

PSM Holdings, Inc. has agreed to merge its mortgage banking arm with Oklahoma's Brookside Mortgage, LLC, forming a new entity that the parent company will manage under a wholly owned subsidiary. The merger serves as the next step in a broader expansion strategy by PSM Holdings, which it began in 2010 by acquiring another Oklahoma-based mortgage banking company, CBB, Inc., and continued by acquiring UCMC in February this year.

Elizabeth Warren has hit another hurdle on the path to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director, after a string of news reports revealed the administration is considering a former banker for the role. The buzz is that President Barack Obama and his advisers have begun to openly float Raj Date as a replacement nominee to fill the top position at the bureau. Date currently serves as a deputy under Warren and has ties to Capital One Financial and Deutsche Bank.

The Department of Treasury and HUD jointly released the Housing Scorecard for May on Thursday, finding that housing markets remain fragile with a seven-month stretch of declining home prices. The scorecard tracks monthly housing and economic data. The May edition called housing prices weak, noting only a minor boost for sales in April. Other industry reports echo the assessment with mortgage applications still falling, eroding home equity, and weak job growth -- all impacting the mortgage market.