RMBS

The Knights of Columbus late Tuesday said in a press release that it has expanded a case against the Bank of New York as trustee for 18 RMBS trusts originally issued by Countrywide with additional claims of breach of contract, among other things.

The list of objections to the risk retention proposal appears endless.

Eight MBS lawsuits filed against Countrywide Financial Corp., now a subsidiary of Bank of America Corp., have been consolidated into one case in California.

Conventional refinance mortgage application numbers affected by low rates during last week's market volatility are expected to come in roughly around 20% lower than they were when the Mortgage Bankers Association's application index hit its peak last year, according to a Credit Suisse report Monday.

Distinctive features related to principal forgiveness in an unusual modification program Ocwen recently started could improve efforts made to resolve underwater loans in securitizations, according to a Moody's Investors Service report Monday.

Mortgage fraud continued at elevated levels in fiscal year 2010 and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) continues to "dedicate significant resources to the threat," the agency said in its FY 2010 Mortgage Fraud Report.

An "unprecedented crackdown." That's how Commissioner David Stevens described a get-tough program that took place under him at the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) from mid-2009 until April of this year. As part of the push, the FHA's Mortgage Review Board issued more administrative actions against lenders in Stevens' first year than it had in the prior eight years combined.

Fitch Ratings has affirmed the U.S. long-term foreign and local currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) and Fitch-rated U.S. Treasury security ratings at 'AAA'.

Moody's Investors Service's index of cumulative defaults for Spanish RMBS rose to 1.98% of the original balance in June compared to 1.89% in March.

More homeowners say they are under water on their mortgage and more Americans are pessimistic about house prices, according to a quarterly consumer survey by Fannie Mae.