Tag Archives: Lenders & Servicers

Citing dips in home sales, purchases, and low job growth, some economists say housing is already in a double-dip recession, with reprieve still off for another two years - this despite a last-minute debt deal.

Making the annual list of industry technology leaders for another consecutive year, Financial Industry Computer Systems, Inc., got named to the Top 50 Service Providers, compiled yearly by Mortgage Technology.

After an operation orchestrated by regulators over 10 states, Morris Plains-based Mortgage Access Corp., doing business as Weichert Financial Services, inked its name to a remittance in the amount of $3 million over a multitude of compliance and internal control deficiencies. Some ten agencies joined the effort, with actors including banking regulators from Connecticut, Louisiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Vermont.

Carrington Mortgage Services, LLC, is expanding via newly acquired assets from American Home Equity Corp. (AHE). Focused on growing its origination component, Carrington structured its purchase deal with AHE to enhance the company├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós wholesale retail channel.

Applied Business Software recently announced that U.S. Bancorp CDC is utilizing its servicing management platform, The Mortgage Office. U.S. Bancorp CDC will use the platform to service its tax credit loans.

On Friday the House of Representatives put largely partisan weight behind a bill that would require the FDIC to investigate the 382 bank failures it has corralled with shutdowns since 2008. If reconciled with a similar bill passed by the Senate, H.R. 2056 could require the FDIC's inspector general to examine whether the current regulatory climate crimps lending for community banks. A House Financial Services Committee statement cites some 140 bank failures over 2009 and 157 over 2010, claiming their concentration in only 10 states.

A rule recently finalized by the Federal Trade Commission will take effect this month, prohibiting mortgage brokers, servicers, and nonbank lenders from advertising 19 practices it calls deceptive. The rule will enable the FTC, newly opened Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and state regulators to issue civil monetary fines and penalties against wayward mortgage advertisers. The Mortgage Acts and Practices Rule prescribes a number of penalties for deceptive claims about mortgages.

Canada may soon face a housing bubble crisis not unlike the one still felt by its southern neighbor, with a possible burst threatening to soak pockets of the U.S. economy that rely on purchases by overseas homebuyers.

According to results of a new survey by mortgage giant Freddie Mac, borrowers who were given the chance to refinance their mortgages showed a 77 percent success rate in maintaining or reducing their loan debt.

Some 240 lenders across the country got in trouble with the Federal Housing Administration this year, with the federal agency announcing sanctions on Friday that included revocations of approval, suspensions, reprimands, and civil monetary fines. The FHA's Mortgagee Review Board slapped lenders with administrative penalties for scrimping on loan criteria required by the federal agency, which it said in some cases resulted in over-insured loans, excessive and duplicative fees for borrowers, among other things.