Foreclosure

In a joint announcement from JPMorgan Chase and U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Jonathon Rowles, the financial services firm revealed it will provide $27 million in benefits to its military customers. The funds are part of a settlement to a class action lawsuit over financial protections due to military customers under the Service Members Civil Relief Act (SCRA). JP Morgan admitted to violating the SCRA after the company wrongfully foreclosed on military families and overcharged thousands.

An industry study released Monday shows that nearly half of home sales activity last month involved distressed properties, a trend that is likely to continue as the backlog of foreclosures and mortgage defaults make their way through the pipeline. Within this distressed property segment, the market analysis shows a boom in short sales during the month of March to a record-high 19.6 percent, and a drop in the proportion of damaged REO, which the report says should be a positive for home values in future months.

With foreclosures expected to rise through 2012, Realis Real Estate Software recently offered tips for REO agents to avoid legal trouble when working with multiple foreclosure properties. The Denver-based workflow management software firm says foreclosure fraud is also increasing, which means potential damaging litigation. Realis says for agents, it all boils down to integrity, organization of all key data, and documentation.

While the share of distressed sales - REOs and short sales - is on the rise when tallying numbers nationwide, it's falling in California. The California Association of Realtors reports that the total ratio of all distressed property types sold statewide declined in March to 51 percent, down from 56 percent in February. REOs sold last month went for 88 percent less than non-distressed properties, while short sales had a median discount of 41 percent.

As home prices began heading further and further south, the term ""strategic default"" made its way into industry jargon...and into the minds of lending and servicing professionals already struggling to keep up with large volumes of borrowers who actually can't afford their mortgage payments. It's a fairly new phenomenon that the industry agrees needs addressing, but the problem is, how do you pinpoint a strategic defaulter? The credit assessment firm FICO says it's developed a method, using consumer behavior analytics, that will allow lenders to identify borrowers who might walk away.

Under a new Idaho state law, lenders must respond to requests for loan modification within 45 days and cannot proceed to a foreclosure sale until after responding to the request. House Bill 331, which takes effect September 1, also stipulates that lenders must meet in person or over the phone with the borrower if the borrower requests it. In addition, new documentation requirements and borrower contact parameters have been put in place.

Foreclosures in Florida dropped by 12 percent from March to April, according to ForeclosureDataOnline.com. Since the fourth quarter of last year, the state's foreclosure activity is down 47 percent. The site attributes this slowdown to the recent robo-signing foreclosure documentation problems exposed last fall, which resulted in temporary moratoriums and court delays where foreclosures require approval by a judge. However, March data suggest foreclosures will soon rise again as banks continue to work through their backlog of cases.

Mortgage Cadence recently announced that its Mortgage Cadence Reprise system can assist servicers in meeting proposed requirements to mortgage servicing procedures. Mortgage Cadence Reprise is a Web-based solution that provides servicers with automation technology, and the company says it will allow servicers to effectively respond to mortgage reform in the servicing industry while providing the customer service expected by state attorneys general and federal regulators.

JJL Process Corporation, a technology provider in the process serving industry, recently announce the appointment of industry veteran Joel Rosenthal as the company's director of business development. Rosenthal joins JJL after nine years with a premier national debt buyer. For the past 20 years, JJL has specialized in serving collection papers, including those for homeowners association (HOA) foreclosures.

Foreclosure activity is slowing in Massachusetts, according to the latest report by the Warren Group in Boston. Lenders filed 1,048 petitions to foreclose in the Bay State during March, a 60 percent decrease from March 2010. Foreclosure deeds also dropped, declining 60 percent from a year earlier. Likewise, auction announcements plummeted 62 percent.