News

Collateral Analytics, a provider of comprehensive automated valuation solutions and real estate analytic products for the financial services and real estate industry, recently announced that it has joined Real Estate Data Protection Legal Association (REDPLAN).

RealtyTrac's latest U.S. Foreclosure Market Report for April 2014, revealed foreclosure filings were down 1 percent from March, totaling approximately 115,000. April's figure reflects a year-over-year decrease of 20 percent.

The New York Fed recorded an increase of $129 billion in national outstanding household debt in the first three months of the year, bringing the total debt level up to $11.65 trillion. It was the third straight quarterly gain. Leading the increase was a rise in mortgage debt, which was up by $116 billion from the end of 2013, according to the bank.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has been busy. After a recent Mel Watt speech as well as a plan for the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government agency released its Foreclosure Prevention Report for February 2014. The report contains data regarding the foreclosure prevention activity of the GSEs as of the end of February.

Bob Hoose, partner from the Law Offices of John D. Clunk, was sworn-in as a member of the Ohio Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) by President Susan Stevenson. As a newly sworn-in member of the Ohio MBA, Hoose "is committed to speed up the foreclosure process in the State of Ohio," the company said in a release.

In a study commissioned by VantageScore Solutions and the Consumer Federation of America (CFA), more than 1,000 representative American consumers were asked 19 questions designed to gauge their knowledge of credit scoring. While the findings illustrate respondents are aware of a handful of facts surrounding their credit score, there are still some major gaps in their knowledge.

In a speaking engagement at the Brookings Institution, Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Melvin L. Watt spoke about his new 2014 Strategic Plan for the Conservatorships of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, highlighting a few major changes to the plan. Notably Watt’s plan removes any intention to reduce the GSEs' presence in the market, a central part of former Acting Director Edward DeMarco's strategic plan.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) released its strategic plan for the conservatorships of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In its report, the FHFA focused on three tenets going forward for the GSEs: maintain foreclosure prevention activities, reduce taxpayer risk, and build a new, single-family securitization infrastructure.

CoreLogic released Tuesday its own quarterly Case-Shiller Indexes, assembled using the company’s proprietary data supplemented with statistics from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). With 2014 nearing its halfway point, a broad spectrum look at more than 380 markets nationwide confirms home prices jumped 11.3 percent in 2013’s final quarter compared to the year prior.

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) issued its "Blueprint for Access," which aims to expand credit access for underserved borrowers by utilizing housing counseling as a means to reduce the possibility of loans becoming seriously delinquent. The announcement highlights a new pilot program, Homeowners Armed with Knowledge (HAWK), which incorporates housing counseling into the home buying process.