RMBS

A loan officer for a Florida mortgage company was sentenced to more than four years in prison for pleading guilty to committing wire fraud in a $9.2 million mortgage fraud scam.

Rating agency presale reports came out last week on the latest deal from Redwood Trust, the only consistent issuer/aggregator of nonagency/Jumbo securitizations. These show it is continuing to work toward perfecting its mix of inherent Jumbo risks and mitigating factors.

Major servicers are in various stages of setting up their systems and training personnel to provide struggling homeowners with a “single point of contact” (SPOC) that they can rely on as they go through the loan modification process, according to a new report by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).In April 2011, OCC directed 12 major mortgage servicers to clean up their shops after receiving numerous complaints from borrowers and congressmen about slow processing times, lost paper work and the difficulty of reaching anyone at the servicing company who could answer their questions.

Activity and flows in MBS were influenced primarily by the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting this week.

Among the strongest industry rationales for a national mortgage servicing settlement was that it would break the legal stalemate over a huge backlog of delinquent loans. Banks would give principal writedowns to eligible borrowers and confidently foreclose on the rest, allowing the housing market to move on.

The housing slump will continue as student loan debt rises, according to analysis from the National Association of Home Builders.

The European Covered Bond Council (ECBC) stated that it welcomed yesterday’s announcement by an investment banking group that these institutions are committed to helping ensure the successful launch of the ECBC Covered Bond Label.

A federal judge from the the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York yesterday approved a $40 million settlement in an MBS class action lawsuit against individuals formerly affiliated with Lehman Brothers Holding. The company went bankrupt in September 2008.

The mortgage servicing industry has lost the benefit of the doubt with judges, regulatory agencies and attorneys representing debtors, and according to a panel of industry experts, proper documents and filing procedures are a critical tool for buyers and sellers to make the most of investment opportunities in distressed and delinquent mortgage portfolios.