The Social Security Administration has closed the enrollment period for financial institutions to participate in a new fee-based, automated program to verify individuals’ Social Security numbers for lending purposes.
Earlier this year, Wells Fargo offloaded roughly $20.7 billion in Ginnie servicing rights. The buyers? A bank and a nonbank. Meanwhile, the Equifax data hack will cost upwards of $700 million in settlement costs.
Subservicing vendors continued to grow during the first quarter but a few firms saw a reduction in contracts. Cenlar remained the dominant player but Mr. Cooper, Flagstar and Ocwen are eager to compete. Meanwhile, consolidation looms.
Former investment banker and Freddie Mac executive Bruce Witherell has parted ways with Promontory MortgagePath, a vendor owned by Eugene Ludwig, who once headed the OCC. Witherell is currently fielding offers.
An auction of Ditech Financial is scheduled for the end of May. At stake is not only the company’s future — and the jobs of roughly 2,700 full-time employees — but $187.2 billion in mortgage servicing rights. If bidders fail to show up, Ch. 7 will likely be the next step.
It appears that RoundPoint Mortgage is once again on the auction block. This time around, it looks as though the $90.5 billion residential servicer will be sold to top-ranked Freedom Mortgage, Stan Middleman's shop. But it's not a done deal, sources say, at least not yet.
Zillow Group, which has tentacles in the mortgage industry, in late February announced that Rich Barton, the firm’s co-founder and former CEO, is returning as chief executive. Spencer Rascoff, a co-founder who has served as Zillow’s chief since 2010, will step down but will stay on as a director.
CoesterVMS, a nationwide appraisal management company, has folded its tent, the apparent victim of a slowing mortgage market and other woes. As the weekend approached, the front door of the Gaithersburg, MD-based company was locked, its website down, and calls to the vendor were put on hold almost immediately.
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