A New York housing counselor on Thursday was sentenced to six years in prison for bilking 136 mortgage customers who sought loan modifications.

Credit Suisse analysts said in a press conference that the rampant use of principal forgiveness is a dangerous path because it promotes moral hazard. The true key to avoid moral hazard as well as what drives the re-default rate is not the type of modification but the level of payment reduction to the borrower’s mortgage.

National home prices fell for the fifth consecutive year as they were down 4.7% at the end of 2011 compared to December 2010, according to a CoreLogic report.

Suzanne Ball, president of America's Infomart, a field services company based in Dallas, plans to be at the MBA National Mortgage Servicing Conference to check the pulse of her peers on loan information security issues.

December was the best month of 2011 in terms of primary new mortgage insurance written by the current membership of the Mortgage Insurance Cos. of America.