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May 25, 2007

Top Jumbo Lenders Q4 07

Posted by S. Germain at 08:19 AM | Comments (0)

First American CREDCO Partners With CreditXpert

CreditXpert Inc., a developer of credit management and optimization solutions, today announced its partnership with First American CREDCO, the leading provider of merged credit reports to the mortgage and consumer finance industries and part of First Advantage Corporation (Nasdaq: FADV - News). First American CREDCO's mortgage origination customers now have access to CreditXpert What-If Simulator(TM), CreditXpert Essentials(TM) and CreditXpert Detective(TM) - software solutions designed to maximize consumer credit ratings.

Posted by S. Germain at 08:17 AM | Comments (0)

The First American Corporation Declares Quarterly Cash Dividend

The First American Corporation (NYSE: FAF), America's largest provider of business information, today announced that its board of directors has declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of 22 cents per common share.

The cash dividend is payable on July 16, 2007, to shareholders of
record as of June 29, 2007. First American has paid a cash dividend for each of the last 98 years.

Posted by S. Germain at 08:15 AM | Comments (0)

EverBank Acquires NetBank Businesses

EverBank, one of the nation's largest privately-held financial services firms, announced today it has reached an agreement that will increase its assets to approximately $7 billion, its deposits to approximately $6 billion, and its customer base to over 550,000 through the acquisition of NetBank's direct banking and small business financing divisions and mortgage servicing portfolio. EverBank expects to complete the acquisition by early summer with full integration expected by the third quarter of this year.

Posted by S. Germain at 08:11 AM | Comments (0)

Use of Mortgage Builder Software's Secondary Marketing Tool Continues to Grow

Mortgage Builder Software, Inc., a leading provider of end-to-end mortgage banking software solutions, announced an upsurge in user demand for its secondary marketing tool, which is fully integrated into the Mortgage Builder® loan origination system. The secondary marketing tool seamlessly performs the processes required to efficiently manage pipeline risk, perform best execution analysis, sell and deliver loans to secondary market investors.

Posted by S. Germain at 08:11 AM | Comments (0)

Visionet Systems Offers Mortgage Enterprise Risk Management Framework (MERM) for Mortgage Lenders & Investors

Visionet Systems has launched its Mortgage Enterprise Risk Management Framework (MERM) solution that enables lenders and investors to define, track and report on operational performance.

Visionet's MERM Framework is the coupling of best practice processes, metrics and automated tools to Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve & Control (DMAIC) and report on operational performance. The solution employs a "middleware" concept that connects all data and document inflow to a mortgage operation that applies, tracks and reports on task execution against loan level attributes. MERM ensures that loans entering the system are governed by prescribed product, corporate and regulatory governance as well as deal guidelines.

Posted by S. Germain at 08:09 AM | Comments (0)

eXpertivity Mortgage Solutions Corporation Awards Intelligroup a Contract for Business Process Outsourcing

Intelligroup, Inc., a global provider of business consulting, technology, and outsourcing services, announced today that the company has entered into a Build Operate Transfer (BOT) agreement with eXpertivity Mortgage Solutions Corp., a leading national provider of mortgage loan processing services. Under the terms of the agreement with eXpertivity, Intelligroup will provide infrastructure and facilities to the BOT employees to perform the Mortgage Processing services managed by eXpertivity with a systematic ramp up plan to manage eXpertivity's growth. The contract calls for up to 30 people within 12 - 18 months.

Posted by S. Germain at 08:07 AM | Comments (0)

Avista Solutions Completes Integration to Interthinx's FraudGUARD® Mortgage Fraud Detection System

Avista Solutions, a leading web-based mortgage loan origination software company and Interthinx, the leading provider of mortgage fraud prevention and risk mitigation for the financial industry, announce today that integration to FraudGUARD®, Interthinx's fraud detection and prevention system has been completed. This seamless integration provides Avista's customers a web-based automated fraud protection and detection tool at the point of sale.

Posted by S. Germain at 08:05 AM | Comments (0)

Accenture Launches Mortgage Post-Closing Business Process Outsourcing Service at First National Bank of Arizona

First National Bank of Arizona has awarded Accenture (NYSE: ACN - News) the mortgage industry's first-ever end-to-end post-closing business process outsourcing (BPO) assignment. The Accenture service combines personnel, process and technology to fully automate this part of mortgage fulfillment.

Accenture will provide the bank with file-room services including imaging to convert paper documents into electronic form, indexing to capture relevant information in digital form, workflow services to speed processing, performance metrics spanning the process, and data and document review to confirm that loans have met underwriting, servicing and secondary-market salability requirements.

Posted by S. Germain at 08:03 AM | Comments (0)

MortgageHub Acquires Dynatek

In an attempt to expand further into the mid-tier, MortgageHub Inc., Conshohocken, Pa., has acquired loan origination vendor Dynatek, Livonia, Mich. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The acquisition comes on the heels of MortgageHub's acquisition of the London Bridge properties owned by Fair Isaac. With the Dynatek acquisition, MortgageHub says it now has 550 lender clients.

Posted by S. Germain at 07:55 AM | Comments (0)

Ellie Mae Touts 1st Loan Matching System

Ellie Mae, a Dublin, Calif.-based provider of software and services for the mortgage industry, has released Dynamic Loan Screening, which it touts as the industry's first virtual inter-operable platform that matches loan applications with the products and services of lenders, investors, and settlement service providers. The platform automatically identifies matches between borrower data and products, services, and promotions of participating lenders, investors, and service providers as an originator enters data into Encompass, Ellie Mae's mortgage management system.

Posted by S. Germain at 07:54 AM | Comments (0)

Lydian Boosting Electronic Loan Delivery

Lydian Technology Group, a mortgage technology provider based in Jacksonville, Fla., has enhanced its Mortgage Connectivity Hub to enable investors to accept loans from sellers electronically regardless of how the sellers submit the loan data. The system, which targets mid- to large-size lenders, now makes it far easier for investors to embrace electronic loan delivery, the company said.

Posted by S. Germain at 07:52 AM | Comments (0)

ATM Corp. Touts Settlement Benchmark

ATM Corporation of America, a settlement provider based in Coraopolis, Pa., has announced that its Streamlined Settlement Package has established an industry benchmark by enabling the mortgage loan settlement process to occur within six days from application, "four days faster than its nearest competitor." Boasting complete automation of every step in the collateral valuation, title, and settlement process, SSP gives lenders greater control and improved quality via a centralized Web-based document management system that also facilitates the e-mortgage process, the company said. It also allows lenders to guarantee all settlement costs, including recording fees and mortgage tax, to the borrower at the point of sale. SSP includes VisionCTI, which enables the loan officer and borrower to pre-schedule the appraisal and closing date, time, and location at the point of sale to improve the borrower experience.

Posted by S. Germain at 07:50 AM | Comments (0)

New-Home Sales Surge -- but Don't Celebrate Yet

New-home sales jumped 16% in April -- the biggest percentage increase since 1993 -- but despite the positive news, sales and construction activity may not have hit bottom yet. The U.S. Census Bureau reported new single-family home sales rose from a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 844,000 in March to 981,000 in April. The April sales pace is off by 10.6% since April 2006. The rebound represents the first increase in new-home sales this year, and it "definitely is a very positive number," said Adam York, an economic analyst at Wachovia Corp. But the economist said he would not be surprised to see a downward revision in the April number or a decline in sales in May.

Posted by S. Germain at 07:50 AM | Comments (0)

Fremont Sells Commercial Loan Unit for $1.9 Billion

Fremont General Corp.'s stock skyrocketed more than 40 percent on May 22 after the company announced that it sold its commercial real estate lending business and a 30-percent stake in its commercial loan portfolio to iStar Financial Inc. The deal was valued at $1.9 billion. Fremont has also confirmed that a consortium led by billionaire Gerald Ford has agreed to assume a minority interest in the company in return for $80 million in preferred shares and warrants to purchase 7.1 million additional shares. Last month, Fremont divested itself of its business lending to home buyers with subprime credit. A company statement has been issued, noting: "The sale of the residential and commercial lending assets frees up the company's balance sheet and provides the new management a clean slate and a premier deposit-gath! ering platform to support future growth opportunities."

Posted by S. Germain at 07:47 AM | Comments (0)

OOMC Plans Closures, Cuts

Option One Mortgage Corp. is considering closing a dozen mortgage processing offices and eliminating 600 workers by early September, and it also is planning to pull out of the bulk acquisition and flow correspondent market. The moves are designed "to better align our cost structure to current revenues," according to the wholesale subprime giant. Investors in the secondary market have been requesting that Option One Mortgage buy back troubled loans, and the subprime shop has sought to address early payment defaults by auctioning off these products in the "scratch and dent" market. Parent company H&R Block has already reached an agreement to sell Option One Mortgage to hedge fund Cerberus Capital, which owns other subprime lenders, in a deal that is slated to close this fall.

Posted by S. Germain at 07:47 AM | Comments (0)

Carrington to Buy Loan-Servicing Unit

New Century Financial Corp. will sell its loan-servicing unit to Carrington Capital Management, a Connecticut investment fund that the one-time lending heavyweight helped found. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Carey approved the sale of the remaining business of the Irvine, Calif.-based subprime mortgage lender for $184 million, which is about $50 million more than Carrington initially offered. New Century is liquidating, after having filed for Chapter 11 protection in April. The lender is expected to net about $150 million, according to a company lawyer.

Posted by S. Germain at 07:46 AM | Comments (0)

Impac to Buy Lender in Florida

Impac Mortgage Holdings Inc. has agreed to purchase the lending divisions of Pinnacle Financial Corp., a Florida-based lender with branches in more than two dozen states. The deal, terms of which were not disclosed, entails Impac taking over the leases of Pinnacle's offices. Impac is a California-based REIT that specializes in making "Alternative-A" loans, which is a category between low-risk prime and high-risk subprime. For its part, Pinnacle makes prime and Alt-A loans directly to consumers and operates a wholesale unit.

Posted by S. Germain at 07:45 AM | Comments (0)

Mortgage Servicers Add Fees as Costs Increase

A growing number of mortgage servicers are imposing fees on delinquent, foreclosed or bankrupt loans so that they can remain profitable as the number of non-performing mortgages rises. Servicers say the additional costs are necessary because their regular fees cease when loans enter the foreclosure process and because orchestrating foreclosure sales and other loss mitigation efforts cost more money. Lender Support Systems Inc. CEO Cary Burch says costs also are increasing because investors are calling for electronic tools that will allow them to monitor the performance of particular loans within a pool.

Posted by S. Germain at 07:44 AM | Comments (0)

May 18, 2007

Housing Starts

Posted by S. Germain at 09:14 AM | Comments (0)

FirstClose(TM) and First American eAppraiseIT Announce Strategic Partnership

FirstClose, a service of First Lenders Data, Inc. (FLDI), an Austin, Texas-based provider of bundled mortgage settlement services, and First American eAppraiseIT announced today that they have formed a strategic partnership to make First American eAppraiseIT appraisal and valuation services available to the growing list of FirstClose sales agents, resellers, credit unions, banks, and mortgage lenders.

All services offered by eAppraiseIT are now available via the FirstClose platform through a strategic technological integration. Services include 1004 full appraisals, 2055 drive by appraisals, desktop appraisals, and the entire suite of eAppraiseIT valuation services. The technology integration also provides lenders the current status of all appraisal orders, up to date notes and comments regarding the order, real time pricing information, and more.

Posted by S. Germain at 09:09 AM | Comments (0)

Fidelity National Information Services Signs Exclusive Agreement with ICBA

Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. (NYSE: FIS - News) today announced that the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) has signed an agreement with FIS to endorse the company's core processing and item processing solutions.

FIS currently provides processing services to more than 1,000 ICBA Bancard member banks. ICBA has a relationship with nearly 5,000 community banks. Under the new agreement, ICBA will exclusively recommend FIS for its members' core and item processing needs.

Posted by S. Germain at 09:08 AM | Comments (0)

VeroSELECT 2.0 Links Investors and Third-Party AVM Specialist for Cascade Management

Veros Real Estate Solutions, the industry leader in predictive technology, announced today that, in addition to its VeroVALUE AVM, the company's VeroSELECT 2.0 collateral valuation and risk management platform has been chosen by Luminent Mortgage Capital, Inc., Philadelphia, Penn., to provide valuation management and validation for the collateral underlying the whole loans the REIT buys in the secondary market. AVMetrics, Simi Valley, Calif., has been retained to consult for Luminent and will serve as a third-party administrator for the VeroSELECT platform.

Posted by S. Germain at 09:06 AM | Comments (0)

a la mode's SureDocs e-mortgage Application Delivers for Flagstar Bank Originators and Brokers

Flagstar Bank, a proven leader in paperless mortgage processing, and a la mode, developer of mission critical desktop, mobile and Web tools for mortgage originators, announced the completion of a custom software plug-in to a la mode's SureDocs system, which will streamline document delivery for Flagstar brokers who use the application.

Posted by S. Germain at 09:03 AM | Comments (0)

Campus Federal Credit Union Implements FICS' Commercial Servicer(R)

Financial Industry Computer Systems, Inc. (FICS), a mortgage technology specialist that provides in-house commercial servicing technology to the mortgage industry, announced at the MBA's CREF/Multifamily Asset Administration and Technology Conference the successful implementation of Commercial Servicer® at Baton Rouge, La.-based Campus Federal Credit Union, one of the nation's oldest credit unions.

Posted by S. Germain at 09:02 AM | Comments (0)

Technology to Predict Nonperforming Loans?

Interthinx, Agoura Hills, Calif., has released the results of its latest data analysis, which it says can accurately predict which loans will be nonperforming over time. The Interthinx score predicts the likelihood of foreclosure and early payment default. In this study, Interthinx configured and evaluated performance data on over two million loan application records from its database. Through an alliance with one of the top three U.S. credit bureaus, Interthinx analyzed late payments, defaults, and foreclosure data from mortgage trade lines and compared the data with previous scores and red flags for possible mortgage fraud within loan applications. Using the Interthinx scoring system, the analysis quantitatively demonstrated that loans with a low score have a much higher level of risk than loans with a high score, the company said.

Posted by S. Germain at 08:56 AM | Comments (0)

MBA: No Residential Growth Till Late '07 or '08

Inventory in the residential housing market will not grow until the end of 2007 (after two years of decline), and tightened credit could delay the growth to the first quarter of 2008, according to Jamie Woodwell, senior director of commercial/multifamily research with the Mortgage Bankers Association. Speaking at the MBA's commercial real estate/multifamily finance asset administration conference in San Antonio, Mr. Woodwell said the MBA expects economic growth to pick up at the end of 2007 and interest rates to remain at about current levels through 2008. The MBA forecast also calls for home prices to decline 1% in 2007 and resales to decline 6%.

Posted by S. Germain at 08:55 AM | Comments (0)

New Century Financial Corp.: Carrington Capital Wins Loan-Servicing Asset

New Century Financial Corp.'s loan-servicing business was snapped up in a bankruptcy auction by Carrington Capital Management LLC and an affiliate for $188 million. The private-investment firm submitted its original offer of $139 million--35 percent less than what it ultimately agreed to pay--when the subprime lender filed bankruptcy in April.

Posted by S. Germain at 08:54 AM | Comments (0)

OceanFirst Shutting Down Subprime Unit

After failing to secure a buyer, OceanFirst Financial Corp. has opted to shutter its Columbia Home Loans LLC unit, which made millions of dollars of subprime mortgage loans that ultimately became delinquent.

Posted by S. Germain at 08:54 AM | Comments (0)

New Database Targets Homeowners

Mortgage lenders, title companies, appraisers, developers and insurance brokers will be able to find a wide range of information on absentee and onsite homeowners and their properties at the Melissa Data Web site. Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.-based Melissa Data has been adding more than 2 million records a month to its online Homeowner database, which now includes more than 100 million records covering 2,600 counties and 98 percent of mortgage transactions in the country.

Posted by S. Germain at 08:53 AM | Comments (0)

Changes Planned for FICO Method

Fair Isaac Corp. says it is revising the method it uses to compute FICO credit scores but adds that the move is not in response to the increase in defaults on subprime loans. The new calculation strategy for the scores, which lenders use to assess the ability of a borrower to repay a loan, is expected to be introduced in September. The revamped formula should be more effective in gauging the risk profile of first-time home buyers, people with little credit history, and borrowers who have had past credit problems.

Posted by S. Germain at 08:52 AM | Comments (0)

Mortgage Fraud Climbs 30 Percent

A new report from the Mortgage Asset Research Institute reveals a 30-percent jump in fraudulent mortgages last year, with the increase likely related to a surge in delinquencies and defaults that has helped to uncover instances of fraud. Falsified job histories and inflated income were most common in loans written last year under false pretenses; but fraudulent tax statements, appraisals, closing documents and credit reports were also recorded. Leading the pack for the most fraudulent mortgages are Florida, California, Michigan, Georgia, Utah, New York, Illinois, Minnesota, Colorado and Nevada. In response, the Mortgage Bankers Association is urging Congress to earmark $31.25 million over five years to hire 30 FBI investigators and two prosecutors and $750,000 to create task forces to examine conditions in markets with high levels of fraud.

Posted by S. Germain at 08:51 AM | Comments (0)

Countrywide to Add 2,000 Staffers

As more of its competitors in the mortgage lending sector lay off workers, Countrywide Financial Corp. sees an opportunity to boost its own payroll. The California-based firm, which saw its share of the home-finance market rise to 18.2 percent in the first three months of the year from 17.5 percent in the previous quarter, plans to hire about 2,000 sales associates this year. It also expects to open 100 new retail locations.

Posted by S. Germain at 08:29 AM | Comments (0)

Big Lender Enters Mortgage Niche

Countrywide Financial Corp. is dipping its toe into the reverse mortgage business, which allows senior homeowners to receive equity payments that do not come due until after their death or the sale of the property. The lender plans, according to one company official, to eventually "dominate" the niche; but for now, the nation's biggest conventional home lender will have to play catch up to established market leaders IndyMac Bancorp. Inc., Wells Fargo & Co., Seattle Mortgage Co. and BNY Mortgage Co. as well as the growing number of new entrants into the reverse loan sector. The intensifying competition is lowering overall costs for borrowers, and Countrywide's proprietary SimpleEquity product will waive the origination fee--normally about 2 percent or less of the property value--and/or closing costs for transactions that meet certain conditions.

Posted by S. Germain at 08:28 AM | Comments (0)

Lenders Get Tougher

Trouble in the subprime mortgage market prompted lenders to take a closer look at loan applications, making the process of buying a home more cumbersome for borrowers with good credit. Mortgage Bankers Association chief economist Doug Duncan notes, "There's no question that [lenders] are digging deeper. The pendulum is swinging a little farther to the conservative side." Not only are lenders boosting required down payment amounts; but they also increasingly are mandating more than one appraisal, requesting the opinion of real estate brokers about home prices, forcing self-employed borrowers to provide business licenses and fully disclose income and assets and undertaking investigations to see whether a transaction involves an investment property.

Posted by S. Germain at 08:18 AM | Comments (0)

Mortgage Woes Force Banks to Take Hits to Sell Homes

Mortgage lenders are increasingly turning to large-scale auctions instead of real estate agents to unload foreclosed properties; but in exchange for speedy sales, they are forced to take substantial losses. Though 90 percent of the lender-owned homes recently auctioned off in San Diego by Real Estate Disposition Corp. were sold, their sales prices were between 30 percent and 50 percent less than their previous sales prices or appraised values.

Posted by S. Germain at 08:17 AM | Comments (0)

AIG, Despite $128M Hit, to Seek Subprime Growth

American International Group (AIG) reports that first-quarter results for its mortgage business could have been worse if it had chased the market down over the past 12 to 18 months. The company took a $128 million pretax charge against its quarterly earnings due to its nonprime mortgage business, but says it is considering expanding its subprime mortgage lending business. AIG notes that its credit quality remains strong, lenders are leaving the business and some of the nontraditional products will be scaled back.

Posted by S. Germain at 08:16 AM | Comments (0)

May 11, 2007

Top Alt A Lenders

Posted by S. Germain at 08:22 AM | Comments (0)

First American Title Insurance Company Expands Operations in People's Republic of China

First American Title Insurance Company's International Division today announced the establishment of First Title (Beijing) Real Estate Guaranty Co., Ltd., the first wholly foreign-owned enterprise dealing with real estate guaranty in China.

First American has appointed Jinqiang Shi (Gene Shi) as managing director and president of the new company, which provides banks, real estate professionals, developers and others with the Chinese version of escrow products and services necessary to bring peace of mind to local real estate practitioners, as well as home buyers and sellers.

Posted by S. Germain at 08:20 AM | Comments (0)

Chevy Chase Bank Selects Fidelity National Information Services' Commercial Lending Solutions

Fidelity National Information Services, Inc., (FIS) and Chevy Chase Bank announced today that Chevy Chase Bank has selected FIS' Advanced Commercial Banking Systems (ACBS(R)) to support its growing commercial loan business.

Chevy Chase Bank will deploy ACBS origination and servicing solutions in its back-office operations, via FIS' Application Service Provider (ASP) solution, to efficiently originate and service commercial loans. FIS' ACBS Lending Solutions is an integrated family of commercial lending products that automates the entire range of commercial lending activity, from deal origination through settlement, accounting, and risk and loan management.

Posted by S. Germain at 08:20 AM | Comments (0)

New Expansion into Southwestern Colorado for Stewart Title of Colorado

Stewart Title of Colorado has expanded into the southwest portion of the state for the first time, with the May 1 opening of Stewart Title of Colorado - Durango and Cortez divisions.

Posted by S. Germain at 08:18 AM | Comments (0)

Fidelity National Financial Launches its Multicultural Marketing Program to Fresno and Stanislaus Counties in California

Fidelity National Financial, Inc. (FNF), one of the nation's leading providers of title insurance, specialty insurance and claims management services, today launched its Multicultural Marketing Program to Fresno and Stanislaus counties in California. This is the company's second major launch in the Central

Posted by S. Germain at 08:17 AM | Comments (0)

DPS eMortgage Studio® Supports eSigned PDFs

Document Processing Systems, Inc. announces today the immediate ability to fully sign, close, and register eNotes using the just-released MISMO(R) eSigned PDF Guidelines v1.0 and the draft MERS(R) eRegistry PDF Guidelines.

Posted by S. Germain at 08:14 AM | Comments (0)

FICS Includes Logic with Document Bundles for Loan Origination Solution

Financial Industry Computer Systems, Inc. (FICS), a mortgage technology specialist that provides in-house residential origination and servicing technology and commercial servicing technology to the mortgage industry, announced that it has enhanced its mortgage loan origination system, Loan Producer®, to allow logic to be imbedded in its Document Bundle feature.

The ability to imbed automated logic in the Document Bundle feature allows lenders to easily print all documents required for different loan products and investors or for any city, county or state with the click of a single icon. Implementing logic into document bundling enables the system to recognize which documents are required to meet the state investor, and loan product requirements, along with government regulations.

Posted by S. Germain at 08:13 AM | Comments (0)

ComplianceEase and Zementis Announce Strategic Partnership and Launch DecisionEase Brand

ComplianceEase®, a leading provider of mortgage industry automated compliance and risk management solutions, announced at Mortgage Bankers Association's Legal Issues and Regulatory Compliance 2007, an exclusive partnership with Zementis, Inc., a provider of state-of-the-art statistical and analytical solutions, to deploy the mortgage lending industry's first web-enabled, enterprise-wide loan product suitability and eligibility management system with embedded regulatory compliance controls.

The Zementis' Adaptive Decision and Predictive Analytics (ADAPA®) intelligent risk management decisioning technology was selected to integrate into the ComplianceEase platform, and solutions built on this combination of unique technology will be marketed under the DecisionEase(TM) brand. The new offering features a multi-purpose business rules management system that employs XML and leverages Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization (MISMO) standards. The first customer deployment of this new offering is scheduled for launch in early May.

Posted by S. Germain at 08:08 AM | Comments (0)

Financial Crossing Announces New Release of Advanced Mortgage and Liability Advice Solution

Financial Crossing, Inc. today announced the availability of Liability Manager 3.0, the financial industry's most advanced mortgage and liability management solution. The platform enables financial institutions and lending professionals to deliver actionable advice on their clients' portfolios of mortgages and other consumer debt.

Posted by S. Germain at 08:07 AM | Comments (0)

Wolters Kluwer Financial Services Announces Flood Indicator Functionality Within Flood Wiz

Wolters Kluwer Financial Services, through its line of PCi compliance analytics solutions, announced today the availability of Flood Indicator functionality within its Flood Wiz® solution. Flood Wiz gives lenders access to the most up-to-date and accurate flood risk data, and can produce a flood determination within seconds. The indicator functionality, accessed via the Flood Wiz web site (http://www.floodwiz.com), enables lenders to begin the flood risk assessment process earlier in the lending cycle to better prepare borrowers for a potential flood insurance purchase.

Posted by S. Germain at 08:05 AM | Comments (0)

What's KPO?

Boasting offshoring credentials for the mortgage industry going back to 2000, Global Realty Outsourcing, Blackheath Financial, and Zenta (formerly H-Cube) have announced that they are uniting under the Zenta brand to offer business process outsourcing and knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) services to the real estate and financial services industries. According to the announcement, the combined company has 5,000 employees in six locations across three continents, with many employees holding MBA degrees and chartered accountant certifications. In an earlier announcement, American Capital Strategies Ltd. said it invested $17 million in H-Cube LLC to support the acquisition of Blackheath Financial, which provides outsourced real estate analysis and consulting services to commercial mortgage-backed securities underwriters and investors.

Posted by S. Germain at 07:59 AM | Comments (0)

LFC Integrates Into Calyx Point

Lenders First Choice, Simi Valley, Calif., and Calyx Software, San Jose, Calif., have announced the integration of LFC's title insurance and settlement services application into Calyx Point, which connects loan officers and processors to lenders and service providers. LFC is using the Calyx WebConnect technology, which the companies said ensures compatibility with Point and Point Data Server.

Posted by S. Germain at 07:59 AM | Comments (0)

NAR Lowers Home Sales Forecast

The National Association of Realtors has lowered its forecast for home sales this year, citing the effects of stricter lending standards and a decline in subprime mortgage origination. The NAR, which was predicting 2007 existing-home sales of 6.42 million earlier this year, is now forecasting resales of 6.29 million. (Resales totaled 6.48 million in 2006.) NAR senior economist Lawrence Yun said new-home sales are now projected to reach a level of 864,000, down from the 1.06 million recorded last year. Housing starts are forecast to total 1.46 million, down from 1.80 million in 2006.

Posted by S. Germain at 07:58 AM | Comments (0)

Countrywide Expands Amid Mortgage Industry Turmoil

Countrywide Financial Corp. reports that it funded $40 billion in mortgages last month, up 11 percent from a year ago. The Calabasas, Calif.-based mortgage lender also says that loans to borrowers with problems in their credit histories were down 49 percent and that payment-option mortgages also were down 60 percent, which reflects a tightening of underwriting standards. The increase in lending volume benefited from refinancings, which also helped boost industrywide volume 4.3 percent to $653 billion during the first quarter. The expansion in the industry is unlikely to continue, with the Mortgage Bankers Association set to release a report on Thursday that forecasts a decline in lending volume through the third quarter of next year.

Posted by S. Germain at 07:55 AM | Comments (0)

PNC to Buy Mortgage Lender ARCS

Pittsburgh-based PNC Financial Services Group Inc. on Wednesday announced its planned acquisition of a California mortgage lender. Pending regulatory and agency approval, the deal to buy ARCS Commercial Mortgage is slated to close in this year's third quarter. The takeover target operates out of Calabasas Hills but has a total of 10 origination offices across the country. ARCS has excelled as an agency lender for the past decade, cranking out more than $2.1 billion in origination volume last year and servicing some $13 billion in loans.

Posted by S. Germain at 07:55 AM | Comments (0)

More Lenders Seen Using Offshoring

Lenders increasingly will turn to offshoring as a strategy to lower costs and maximize efficiency, according to a new report by Deloitte & Touche USA. About half of the top 40 lenders in the United States have relocated some of their business to foreign countries, and the remaining major lenders are expected to join them in offshoring their operations over the next three to five years, says the report from the New York auditor. "Like a storm feeding on itself, vendor abilities are encouraging more mortgage lenders to join the fray and increased offshore business can help vendors to further improve," writes lead author Elizabeth Roberts, a director at the auditor's consulting unit. While offshoring has the potential to lower operations and other costs by 35 percent to 40 percent, Roberts warned that half-hearted efforts often lead to failure.

Posted by S. Germain at 07:51 AM | Comments (0)

More Wachovia Funding for NovaStar

Wachovia confirms that it will provide an additional $1.9 billion of warehouse financing to struggling subprime mortgage lender NovaStar Financial Inc. According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the funding is an expansion of a deal involving whole loan and securities repurchase agreements that Wachovia reached with the Kansas City, Mo., company for one year. NovaStar plans to use the $100 million credit line it closed on last month to boost liquidity and flexibility. In April, NovaStar also said it was exploring the idea of selling itself, in addition to other "strategic alternatives."

Posted by S. Germain at 07:50 AM | Comments (0)

Bank of America Eliminates Closing Costs on New No-Fee Mortgage

Bank of America Corp. has announced that it will be eliminating collection of borrower, lender and third-party fees that crank up the price of purchasing a home by a few thousand dollars. Floyd Robinson, head of Bank of America's consumer real estate and insurance services, reports that the new loan will eliminate an average of $3,350 in closing costs on a $200,000 loan. The no-fee mortgage, which is not available to subprime borrowers, requires a down payment of at least 5 percent. The loan also cuts out private mortgage insurance--a premium that usually is paid by borrowers whose down payment on a residence is less than 20 percent. Bank of America first offered the no-fee loan in Washington state last September and has since expanded nationally.

Posted by S. Germain at 07:48 AM | Comments (0)

May 04, 2007

Subprime Originators

Posted by S. Germain at 09:51 AM | Comments (0)

First American Reports Financial Results for First Quarter 2007

Read the entire story here.

Posted by S. Germain at 09:50 AM | Comments (0)

Fidelity National Information Services Acquires Marketing Solutions, Inc.

Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. announced today it has acquired Marketing Solutions, Inc. (MSI), one of the fastest-growing providers of customer relationship management (CRM) and profitability offerings to community financial institutions.

MSI develops highly intuitive, Web-based technology products that enable community financial institutions to tailor offerings, cross-sell products and maximize client relationships. Through accurate analysis and automated functionality, MSI offers financial institutions a valuable resource to sharpen their competitive edge. In addition, MSI offers financial institutions the unique opportunity to provide personalized direct mail to clients, using outsourced marketing options.

Posted by S. Germain at 09:49 AM | Comments (0)

Home Buyers, Sellers and Other Stewart Title Customers to Benefit from Translation Services Offered via Telephone and Live Interpretation

Home buyers, sellers and other closing customers in more than 900 Stewart Title offices across the nation will have access to over-the-phone interpretations in 150 languages through a new agreement made by Stewart's multicultural markets group with a language services provider.

Posted by S. Germain at 09:47 AM | Comments (0)

Avista Solutions Announces Integration to DataVerify's DRIVE™ Anti-Fraud Platform

Avista Solutions announced that it has completed integration to DataVerify Corporation's Data Risk Integrity Verification Engine (DRIVE). This integration provides Avista's customers a web-based anti-fraud decisioning and data verification platform to predict fraud and mitigate losses, including repurchase and early payment default. The seamless integration is available for loan submissions from the Avista Agile LOS™ Wholesale, Retail and Correspondent mortgage platforms.

Posted by S. Germain at 09:42 AM | Comments (0)

IntraPrise Solutions and The Servicing Source Announce Joint Venture

IntraPrise Solutions, Inc. and The Servicing Source today announced a joint venture to launch a new brand of valuation and pricing products and services. Combining IntraPrise Solutions' loan product and pricing content and software engineering expertise, with The Servicing Source's modeling technology, market knowledge and business expertise, the companies have created a jointly-branded suite of products and services to deliver whole loan and servicing valuation solutions to the mortgage industry.

Posted by S. Germain at 09:39 AM | Comments (0)

Hyland Software Announces Strategic Alliance with Gallagher Financial Systems

Hyland Software Inc., developer of the OnBase enterprise content management (ECM) software suite, announced that it has formed a strategic alliance with Gallagher Financial Systems Inc. (GFS), a leader in enterprise loan origination system technology. As part of the alliance, Hyland will integrate OnBase with GFS's NetOxygen loan origination system (LOS) to provide additional document management options to GFS's new and existing customers.

Posted by S. Germain at 09:35 AM | Comments (0)

Hybrid E-Notarization Alliance Formed

Cincinnati-based eLynx has formed a strategic partnership with MortgageDocs, a nationwide mobile notary and attorney service provider, to further facilitate the use of hybrid electronic mortgage practices. Through eLynx's automated package delivery application, lenders can electronically submit documents to MortgageDocs, which then manages the signing and notarization process. On average, a notary is assigned to an individual borrower within 30 minutes of receipt, and sometimes as quickly as one minute in highly populated locations, the companies said. The network also provides real-time performance history statistics.

Posted by S. Germain at 09:30 AM | Comments (0)

MBA: Commercial/MF Originations Rose 10%

Commercial and multifamily mortgage originations were up 10% in 2006, with mortgage bankers closing a record high $406.1 billion in commercial and multifamily loans, according to the MBA. The trade group said loans backed by office properties and loans for commercial bank and savings institution portfolios led the increase. The increase in originations in 2006 was driven both by higher loan amounts -- the average loan size rose to $11.5 million -- and by the closing of a greater number of loans. Among major investor groups, real estate investment trusts saw the greatest percentage increase in volume in 2006, followed by commercial banks/thrifts.

Posted by S. Germain at 09:28 AM | Comments (0)

Companies Agree to Dodd Subprime Principles

Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Litton Loan Servicing, and HSBC have agreed to a set of principles espoused by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher J. Dodd, D-Conn., to take early action to help subprime borrowers through loan modifications to avoid foreclosure. Under the principles, lenders and servicers should contact subprime borrowers with adjustable-rate mortgage loans to make sure they can afford the payments once the loan resets. If not, loan modifications should be explored, including switching the loan to a fixed rate or making the introductory rate permanent.

Posted by S. Germain at 09:28 AM | Comments (0)

Ellington Wins New Century's Loans With a $58 Million Bid in Auction

New Century Financial Corp. recently auctioned off a portfolio of $170 million in subprime mortgages to Ellington Management Group LLC, an Old Greenwich, Conn.-based hedge-fund operator that snapped up the loans with a winning $58 million bid. Ellington also won the rights to payments from certain previously sold mortgages. New Century, a subprime lender based in Irvine, Calif., filed bankruptcy in April and has been unloading its assets to repay creditors. While it was unable to sell off its core loan-origination operations, Carrington Capital Management says it will make a starting bid of $131.9 million for New Century's loan-servicing business.

Posted by S. Germain at 09:26 AM | Comments (0)

Mortgage Unit Produces Loss for GMAC

GMAC recorded a net loss of $305 million in the first quarter, after registering a profit of $495 million during the corresponding period of 2006, due to troubles at its subprime lending division. ResCap reported a $910 million loss for the January-through-March period, prompting lowered outlooks by Moody's and Fitch Ratings even though GMAC has made strides in minimizing the unit's risks. Among other steps, GMAC discounted subprime mortgages to get them off its books and scaled back underwriting for high-risk borrowers. General Motors--which has a 49-percent interest in GMAC--financed a $1 billion infusion of capital for ResCap, the second half of which was given to the lender in April.

Posted by S. Germain at 09:25 AM | Comments (0)

Title Insurance Regulator Considers Rate-Cap Alternatives

Citing the need for increased competition and better disclosure in the title insurance industry, California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner is moving forward with a plan formulated by his predecessor, John Garamond, to roll back and cap title insurance rates. Poizner, however, wishes to balance the need for enhanced consumer protection with the desire for a free market and hopes the plan will prompt industry professionals to develop alternatives.

Posted by S. Germain at 09:24 AM | Comments (0)

An Evergreen: RESPA Reform

The backlash against subprime lending practices could lead to revival of HUD's much-anticipated efforts to overhaul the mortgage disclosure rules under the Real Estate Settlement and Procedures Act (RESPA). HUD deputy secretary Roy Bernardi said the agency intends to issue a rule proposal by Sept. 30--and possibly as early as the summer--with an eye on culling feedback from the mortgage sector and affiliated industries. The on-again, off-again focus on RESPA reform over the past 15 years or so is back on again now that the subprime turmoil is demonstrating how the legislation, as well as the Truth in Lending Act, has failed to help borrowers understand nonprime adjustable-rate financing.

Posted by S. Germain at 09:22 AM | Comments (0)

Vacation-Home Sales Hit Record in '06

Secondary residences accounted for 36 percent of all existing- and new-home sales last year, down from 40 percent of all residential sales in 2005, according to the National Association of Realtors. Investment-home sales, meanwhile, tumbled 28.9 percent to 1.65 million properties last year, compared with 2.32 million in 2005. The decline in investment-home sale activity pulled down the overall number of second-home sales from 2006--which saw a record 1.07 million vacation properties change hands, up 4.7 percent from 1.02 million the previous year. The median price of an investment home and a vacation home fell 18.3 percent to $150,000 and 2 percent to $200,000, respectively, last year.

Posted by S. Germain at 09:22 AM | Comments (0)

Fannie Mae Settlement Is Set to Be Paid Out

The Securities and Exchange Commission will soon hand out $357 million to shareholders hurt by Fannie Mae's improper accounting practices, with Rust Consulting Inc.'s Jeffrey Dahl acting as the distribution agent. Investors who purchased common stock from Jan. 14, 1999, to Dec. 22, 2004, could lay claim to a portion of the settlement. Also eligible are investors who purchased Class N preferred shares from Sept. 25, 2003, to Dec. 22, 2004.

Posted by S. Germain at 09:21 AM | Comments (0)

Washington Mutual Tightens Its Standards

To boost profitability by the end of 2007 following a $113 million first-quarter loss tied to its home-loan operations, Washington Mutual Inc. has reduced the number of no-documentation mortgages it extends to subprime borrowers and is preventing high-risk borrowers from obtaining second mortgages. Additionally, the company expects to beef up alternative-A lending and turn away from "layering" qualification terms to facilitate approvals. According to CFO Thomas Casey, "The issue we see really affecting the subprime market isn't really one of individual underwriting standards. It's the layering of risk."

Posted by S. Germain at 09:20 AM | Comments (0)

Empty Homes on Market Increase

The Census Bureau reports that 2.8 percent of homes on the selling block were vacant in the first quarter, marking the 10th consecutive quarterly gain and underscoring the extent of speculative activity during the housing boom. The report reveals a total of 3.74 million homes up for sale during the January-through-March period.

Posted by S. Germain at 09:18 AM | Comments (0)