July 25, 2008
Existing Home Sales
Submitted by S. Germain on 07/25/2008 | Filed under: Charts, Graphs & Quotes
First American Loan Production Solutions Expands Data, Workout Options
First American Loan Production Solutions has announced the expansion of its borrower identification data and workout options to create a complete loan modification system designed to help servicers prevent foreclosures. The new offering combines credit scoring, valuation services, risk modeling, scoring, document preparation, and document recording to identify borrowers who are most at risk of foreclosure, the company said. Borrower refinance and workout options are then presented, and documents needed to complete the loan modification process may be created.
Submitted by S. Germain on 07/25/2008 | Filed under: First American News
The First American Corporation to Hold Second-Quarter Conference Call on July 31, 2008
The First American Corporation announced that it will host a conference call on July 31, 2008, at 11 a.m. EDT. The call will follow the announcement of the company's operating results for the second-quarter of 2008, which is scheduled for release on July 31, 2008, at 8:32 a.m. EDT.
The conference call, which will also be broadcast over the Internet can be accessed online at http://www.firstam.com/investor or by dialing toll free (888) 955-3516. Callers from outside the United States may dial (210) 234-5896. The pass code for the event is "First American."
An audio replay of the conference call will be available through Aug. 8, 2008, by dialing (203) 369-3865. An audio archive of the call; a copy of the 2008 second-quarter earnings release, including the financial information contained therein; and the accompanying financial presentation will also be available on First American's investor Web site.
Submitted by S. Germain on 07/25/2008 | Filed under: First American News
Fidelity National Financial, Inc. Announces Opening of Fidelity National Title de Mexico S.A. de C.V.
Fidelity National Financial, Inc. announced the opening of its title insurance operation in Mexico, Fidelity National Title de Mexico S.A. de C.V. ("Fidelity Title Mexico").
Submitted by S. Germain on 07/25/2008 | Filed under: Competitive Data
NatCity Sees Big Loss on 'Liquidating Portfolio'
National City Corp., Cleveland, lost $1.8 billion ($2.45 per share) in the second quarter, driven by a $1.6 billion loss provision related to broker-originated home equity, subprime mortgage, and construction loans to individuals.
Submitted by S. Germain on 07/25/2008 | Filed under: Industry View
House Passes Landmark Housing Bill
The House has passed a landmark housing bill that includes a financial backstop for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the measure now goes to the Senate, where a few Republican stalwarts might delay final passage for a few days. The bill increases Fannie's and Freddie's line of credit at the U.S. Treasury and authorizes the Treasury secretary for the first time to purchase stock in the two government-sponsored enterprises, if necessary. The bill also strengthens regulation of Fannie and Freddie, and passage of the bill should make it easier for the mortgage giants to raise additional capital, according to James Lockhart, director of the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight.
Submitted by S. Germain on 07/25/2008 | Filed under: Industry View
Clear Capital Releases New Property Condition Report That Includes Neighborhood Context
Clear Capital introduced the Condition Conformity Inspection: a new report that helps banks and lenders determine whether their vacant, bank-owned homes are at risk of contributing to urban blight.
Condition Conformity Inspections bring together subject property and neighborhood information into a single, easy-to-read form that includes visual tools such as images of the subject property, street views, the ten closest neighboring homes, and a map of the neighborhood. These inspections also include narratives on the condition of the subject, its conformity to the neighborhood, and possible deferred maintenance issues.
Submitted by S. Germain on 07/25/2008 | Filed under: Competitive Data
Radian Guaranty Joins Hope Now Alliance
Radian Guaranty, the primary mortgage insurance subsidiary of Radian Group Inc. announced that it has become a member of the Hope Now Alliance.
Submitted by S. Germain on 07/25/2008 | Filed under: Competitive Data
DocuSign Launches New Enterprise Service Capabilities for Electronic Contract Execution
DocuSign announced the latest release of DocuSign, now available at www.docusign.com, that introduces an extensive set of new features to help customers achieve the long-sought goal of replacing the expensive and slow use of paper in all contract execution processes.
This latest release of DocuSign automates the entire contract execution process, further enhancing the most powerful solution available in the marketplace today. As a SaaS (Software as a Service) offering, DocuSign's automated contract execution services can be deployed very quickly into existing business processes such as sales contract execution, new account openings, HR forms processing and document transaction processing.
Submitted by S. Germain on 07/25/2008 | Filed under: Competitive Data
Cogent Road Introduces Padded Credit Score Detection Tool
Cogent Road has launched an automated tool for detecting if a credit score has been artificially inflated due to questionable or untrustworthy "authorized user" accounts within the borrower's profile.
The solution examines credit reports to detect the probability that a borrower's credit score is being artificially manipulated based on a different individual's payment history. Using a complex series of comparative algorithms, this detection tool analyzes the borrower's credit profile as a whole to detect whether or not authorized user tradelines are consistent with his or her historical payment pattern.
Submitted by S. Germain on 07/25/2008 | Filed under: Competitive Data
SigniaDocs Releases eSign eNsure To Enforce Legal Mortgage Disclosures
According to the company, eSign eNsure enforces compliant disclosure and closing practices by warranting the Good Faith Estimate, the Truth In Lending Statement and annual percentage rate calculations by creating electronic date and time stamps in key disclosure areas, signifying borrower understanding and acceptance of the loan conditions.
Submitted by S. Germain on 07/25/2008 | Filed under: Competitive Data
Lender Processing Services Acquires McDash Analytics
Lender Processing Services Inc. (LPS), recently spun off from Fidelity National Information Services Inc., has acquired McDash Analytics, which provides access to the industry's largest loan-level database of mortgage assets for the purpose of benchmarking and analysis.
Submitted by S. Germain on 07/25/2008 | Filed under: Competitive Data
2Q Home Vacancies Set a Record
The Census Bureau says the 18.6 million homes sitting unoccupied nationwide during the second quarter set a record attributable to the housing slump and rising foreclosure rate. Year-over-year, the number of vacant dwellings was up 6.9 percent, and 2.8 percent of these vacant homes were nonrentals. The report also shows 4 million rentals standing empty during the second quarter and a jump in vacant homes in the "other" category--including foreclosures and those empty while undergoing improvements--to 3.2 million from 3 million in 2007.
Submitted by S. Germain on 07/25/2008 | Filed under: Industry View
San Diego Sues Bank of America to Halt Foreclosures
Bank of America and its Countrywide unit have been sued by the city of San Diego in an attempt to keep the mortgage lenders from foreclosing on local homes. Filed in San Diego County Superior Court by City Attorney Michael Aguirre, the suit alleges that homeowners were defrauded with subprime loans that did not comply with Countrywide's policies. San Diego County has lost 20,000 homes to foreclosure so far this year, but some analysts believe the number could rise to 40,000 for 2008. "We would like to see San Diego become a foreclosure sanctuary," said Aguirre, who expects to file similar suits against Washington Mutual, Wells Fargo and Wachovia to get lenders to negotiate with borrowers.
Submitted by S. Germain on 07/25/2008 | Filed under: Industry View
Title Insurer Fidelity National's Net Sinks 92 Pct
Fidelity National Financial Inc., parent company to one of the country's biggest title insurers, blames the housing slump and mortgage crisis for pushing its second-quarter profit down 92 percent to 3 cents a share from 38 cents a share in the 2007 second quarter. Reuters Estimates reports that analysts had anticipated revenue of 13 cents per share. Fidelity National additionally reports a 25-percent drop in closed title orders to 307,500 for the April-through-June period, a 26-percent decrease in opened title orders to 462,600 and a 23-percent decline in title and escrow premiums and fees to $1.04 billion.
Submitted by S. Germain on 07/25/2008 | Filed under: Competitive Data
Wachovia and Washington Mutual Post Billions in Mortgage Losses
Wachovia Corp. and Washington Mutual Inc. announced record second-quarter losses tied to the mortgage crisis, indicating that the fallout is now affecting loans to prime borrowers. Wachovia lost $8.9 billion in the second quarter, mainly due to its $122 billion portfolio of option adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs), with $3.3 billion of the $5.6 billion reserved for loan losses set aside for these mortgages. Washington Mutual, also indicating problems with option ARMs, posted a $3.3 billion loss for the quarter. Its loan loss reserves total $5.9 billion.
Submitted by S. Germain on 07/25/2008 | Filed under: Industry View
Mortgage Lobby Replaces President
The president of the Mortgage Bankers Association--one of the most powerful lobby groups in the nation's capital and a key player in the housing bill now winding its way through Congress--has announced plans to step down at the end of the year, following more than seven years at the helm. California Housing Finance Agency Chairman and former MBA chairman John Courson has been tapped to replace Jonathan Kempner and will additionally assume the role of COO, beginning on Aug. 1.
Submitted by S. Germain on 07/25/2008 | Filed under: Industry View
Wachovia to Stop Buying Loans From Mortgage Brokers
Beginning on July 25, Wachovia Corp. will no longer approve mortgages made by mortgage brokers--which, along with other third parties, accounted for 40 percent of the bank's loan volume last year. The company announced the change as part of its plans to recover from losses sustained by Golden West Financial Corp., which it acquired for $24 billion in 2006.
Submitted by S. Germain on 07/25/2008 | Filed under: Industry View
Trouble at Fannie and Freddie Stirs Concern Abroad
As of the end of this year's first quarter, roughly 20 percent of securities issued by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and a few smaller quasi-governmental agencies were held by foreign investors, meaning that one out of 10 American mortgages is essentially owned by institutions and governments not based in this country. Now that the two big government-sponsored enterprises are faltering, analysts note that how their bailout is handled will ultimately test American markets in the world view and could have an effect on the level of interest rates and the strength of the dollar for years to come.
Submitted by S. Germain on 07/25/2008 | Filed under: Industry View
July 18, 2008
Housing Starts
Submitted by S. Germain on 07/18/2008 | Filed under: Charts, Graphs & Quotes
The First American Corporation to Hold Second Quarter 2008 Conference Call
The First American Corporation, America's largest provider of business information, announced that it will host a conference call on July 31, 2008, at 11 a.m. EDT. The call will follow the announcement of the company's second-quarter operating results, which is scheduled for release on July 31, 2008, at 8:32 a.m. EDT.
Investors, members of the financial community and the media can access the call by dialing (888) 955-3516, and giving the pass code "First American." The call will also be webcast at www.firstam.com/investor.
An audio replay of the conference call will be available through August 9, 2008, by dialing (203) 369-3865. An audio archive of the call will also be available for replay on First American's Web site.
Submitted by S. Germain on 07/18/2008 | Filed under: First American News
First Title and Winmarkt Sign Title Insurance Deal
First Title Insurance plc (First Title), a subsidiary of First Title plc and the largest provider of title insurance in the United Kingdom and Europe, is pleased to announce that it provided title insurance to facilitate the purchase of Winmarkt Magazine by the IGD Group — one of the primary players in the Italian retail real estate market — for €182.50 million.
Submitted by S. Germain on 07/18/2008 | Filed under: First American News
Fidelity National Financial, Inc. Announces 2nd Quarter 2008 Earnings Release and Conference Call
Fidelity National Financial, Inc. will release 2nd quarter 2008 earnings after the close of regular market trading on Wednesday, July 23, 2008. A conference call will follow at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, July 24, 2008. Those wishing to participate via the webcast should access the call through FNF's Investor Relations website at www.fnf.com. Those wishing to participate via the telephone may dial-in at 800-762-6085 (USA) or 480-248-5088 (International). The conference call replay will be available via webcast through FNF's Investor Relations website at www.fnf.com. The telephone replay will be available from 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time on July 24, 2008, through July 31, 2008, by dialing 800-475-6701 (USA) or 320-365-3844 (International). The access code will be 953610.
Submitted by S. Germain on 07/18/2008 | Filed under: Competitive Data
Cogent Road Tool Detects Credit Piggybacking
Cogent Road has launched an automated tool for detecting if a credit score has been artificially inflated due to questionable or untrustworthy "authorized user" accounts within the borrower's profile. This process is known as "piggybacking," because the borrower's credit score "piggybacks" on the seasoning and payment history of the actual card holder. The tool is available free of charge to Cogent Road's existing Funding Suite clients. The application examines credit reports to detect the probability that a borrower's credit score is being artificially manipulated based on a different individual's payment history.
Submitted by S. Germain on 07/18/2008 | Filed under: Competitive Data
Landata Technologies, Inc. Announces Launch of New eRecording, Document Management Software, Landata eClipse(TM)
Landata Technologies, Inc. (LTI) announced the launch of their new product, Landata’s eClipse™. This new document management system is an all-in-one platform supporting recordation of real estate, court, vital records and miscellaneous documents.
Integrated with the latest eRecording technology, eClipse includes a multi-user examination module used to review real estate and court eRecording packages at the courthouse, as well as a sophisticated redaction capability supporting interactive and batch processing. Landata’s eClipse™ is built around a multiple device interface (MDI) that supports a host of features. A single login provides access to multiple module applications such as the examination, cashiering, electronic recording, imaging, indexing and public access modules to list a few.
Submitted by S. Germain on 07/18/2008 | Filed under: Competitive Data
Kirtland Federal Credit Union Turns to FICS for Mortgage Origination and Servicing Solutions
Financial Industry Computer Systems, Inc. (FICS®), announced that New Mexico-based Kirtland Federal Credit Union is successfully utilizing its residential loan origination and servicing suite of mortgage technology solutions.
Submitted by S. Germain on 07/18/2008 | Filed under: Competitive Data
ServiceLink Web-Based Closing Product Expands In Market
ServiceLink the national mortgage services platform of Fidelity National Financial says it has received solid reviews from borrowers and lenders for its growing iClose Web-based closing product.
iClose is a secure and convenient method for borrowers to close their loans in an online virtual meeting room. Borrowers schedule a date and time that is convenient, and a ServiceLink closing agent guides them through their paperwork, using an online interface.
Submitted by S. Germain on 07/18/2008 | Filed under: Competitive Data
