RMBS

Federal regulators and state Attorneys General may be close to a settlement with several major mortgage servicers over foreclosure processing violations, according to Federal Housing Commissioner David Stevens.

Alarmed by significant deficiencies uncovered as part of a regulatory review of mortgage servicer practices, the federal banking agencies are preparing formal enforcement actions against the largest servicing firms that they hope will set de facto standards across the industry, according to sources familiar with the situation.

As reported by StructuredFinanceNews.com yesterday (see related story), Redwood Trust on Tuesday filed notice with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to sell a $292 million MBS backed by Jumbo mortgage loans.

The reduction of the nonconforming loan limits at the end of September will bring an end to the agency Jumbo conforming asset class. This can also cause slower prepayment rates as well as higher refinancing rates available to these Jumbo borrowers.

Bank of America hired former Saxon Mortgage CEO Tony Meola as a default servicing executive in its mortgage division.

CoreLogic, the Santa Ana-based analytics firm, believes existing home sales for all of 2010 may be 15% to 20% lower than reported by National Association of Realtors (NAR).

Redwood Trust on Tuesday filed notice with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), signaling its intention to sell a $292 million MBS backed by Jumbo mortgages.

Now that the White House has decided to pull the plug on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the next question becomes: How do you liquidate roughly $1.5 trillion of MBS and whole loans sitting on their books?

Ginnie Mae lenders securitized $35.3 billon of government guaranteed residential mortgages in January, a 5% increase from the prior month, according to new figures released by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

A pair of rulings from federal bankruptcy judges last week is adding a new wrinkle to the role of MERSCorp in state foreclosure proceedings.