nationalmortgage

Risk Management & Fraud

• Texas AG Charges Home Loan Servicer With Violating Debt Collection Laws

  National Mortgage News | September 1

  Texas attorney general Greg Abbott has charged Coppell-based American Home Mortgage Servicing Inc., the nation's largest independent subprime servicer, with allegedly using illegal debt collection tactics and improperly misleading struggling homeowners.

• Cease and Desist Orders Issued

  National Mortgage News | September 1

  A cease-and-desist order has been issued by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance to The Pinnacle Division LLC, formerly known as MMS Holdings LLC, and doing business as The Sly Team and www.theslyteam.com, located in Atlanta.

• No More Blind Dates, Please!

  National Mortgage News | September 1

  Even if you have not experienced this for yourself, nearly everyone has heard horror stories from a blind date. They have become a cultural archetype in every way. You go in expecting young, athletic, charming and too often, find yourself grappling with the liberal application of those words. Growing up in the mortgage industry over the last 20 years, I can attest that a few parallels exist here. What you thought was a great deal for the bank, that solid customer with the high FICO score, great employment, and low debt ratios turns out to be a house of cards built on shifting sands, and the "perfect match" ends in default and risk.

• MORTGAGE DEFAULTS THAT ARE 30 DAYS IN ARREARS RISE

  September 1

  THE NUMBER OF NEWLY DELINQUENT HOME LOANS HAS RISEN FOR TWO STRAIGHT QUARTERS in what could foreshadow another surge in unemployment-related foreclosures.

• The Hidden Cost

  National Mortgage News | August 30

  Everyone knows that short sales have gone through the roof, tripling over the last couple of years and providing more grist to the unlikely alliances of lenders and Realtors that have sprung up to handle them.

• HUD/FHA MORTGAGEE CLARIFICATION ON CREDIT WATCH

  August 25

  To elaborate further on recent HUD withdrawals of mortgagee approvals: Approval of a mortgagee by HUD/FHA to participate in FHA mortgage insurance programs includes an Origination Approval Agreement between HUD and the mortgagee. Under the Agreement the mortgagee is authorized to originate single-family mortgage loans and submit them to FHA for insurance endorsement.