Recent Servicing Headlines

Businessman Sues FDIC Over His Investment in a Now-Defunct Bank

FTC Proposes Ban on Upfront Fees for Loan Mods

GMAC Chief Says ResCap's Bleeding has Stopped

BoA Origination Executive Named Short Sales/REO Honcho

Analysts: GSE Buyout Risk Fails to Materialize in January

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Focus On Counseling Still On

By Amilda Dymi

Starting with the foreclosure crisis and particularly during 2009, specialized debt, credit and even small business management counseling efforts received heightened attention bound to further evolve during 2010.

Some of the country's largest banks are expanding their face-to-face counseling capacity. Others are simply expanded services and added new tools.

At yearend 2009 Chase added 24 mortgage-counseling centers and pledged to increase the number of such centers that provide face-to-face assistance to distressed homeowners in 14 states to a total of 51 by the end of March this year.

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Headlines from the Current Issue of Managing REO

MBA MERS Initiative Makes A Difference

A unique collaboration between MERS, the Mortgage Bankers Association, and the CEO of Safeguard Properties has changed the way vacant properties are registered with cities across the country.

'Cross-Qualifying' Helps Banks Poach REO Loans

Discover the controversial tactic of "cross-qualifying" that some lenders are engaging in to unload bank owned assets.

Tool Responds to Loan Portfolio Toxicity

XSite's Loan Portfolio Toxicity Analysis Report enables mortgage lenders and servicers to analyze, stabilize and ultimately revitalize their commercial loan portfolios.

Valuations: A Work In Progress

By Amilda Dymi

Hope that the country is getting out of the current recession is somehow thwarted by concern about what many insiders see as an immediate problem in need of better solutions: the performance and evaluation of distressed loans.

David DeMello, executive vice president and chief appraiser at Clear Capital, sees changes and a developing trend in appraisals.

"Overall appraisers are expected to do more and report more data. If you look at the 1004 report today it is much longer than it was a few years ago. I don't think that trend is going to stop. Because of the clash of the real estate market professionals from the valuation community are going to be expected to do more and very often to also do it more quickly.

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Moving Toward Full and Hybrid E-Mods

By Anthony Garritano

More and more vendors are realizing the benefits of offering electronic modifications to servicers. As a result, full and hybrid e-mod technology is becoming more available.

For example, MOS Group, Irvine, Cal., has launched E-Z Mod, a proprietary loan modification workflow management and tracking system specifically designed to solve many of the industry's biggest obstacles to efficiently completing loan modifications. MOS Group developed E-Z Mod based on its experience working with over 100,000 borrower cases since the launch of the Home Affordability Modification Program this spring.

E-Z Mod increases loan level transparency on the status of each document, streamlines file tracking and communication, and keeps all staff members on a targeted workflow track to achieve the goal of completing full loan packages for MOS Group clients. With E-Z Mod, authorized users from MOS Group's disparate divisions can manage and track each and every document in real-time throughout the entire workflow process. The system alerts end users on next steps, provides detailed status updates that include outstanding items and explanations, and allows easy access to every document received by each borrower. E-Z Mod is currently being used for HAMP modifications as well as for investor-specific programs.

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