Industry Briefs June 16, 2020

To help limited English proficiency borrowers who are experiencing mortgage-related difficulties due to the coronavirus national emergency, the Federal Housing Finance Agency added new translations to the Mortgage Translations website. Site visitors can now choose English, Spanish, traditional Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, or Tagalog when accessing scripts that servicers use when discussing COVID-19 forbearance with borrowers.

Industry Briefs

Stewart Information Services Corp., Houston, acquired United States Appraisals. Stewart said the acquisition strengthens its digital real estate services offering in appraisal and valuation management and enhances its existing title insurance, settlement services, appraisal/valuation and other real estate services.

Industry Briefs

Black Knight, Jacksonville, Fla., said its McDash Flash Forbearance Tracker, as of May 19, reported 4.75 million homeowners – or 9.0% of all mortgages – have entered into COVID-19 mortgage forbearance plans. Active forbearance volumes increased by just 93,000 over the past week, a more than 70% decline from the 325,000 from the first week of May.

Housing Finance Roundup

This week has produced more housing finance reports than you can shake a stick at. Here’s a roundup and summary of what’s happening of reports from Ellie Mae; ATTOM Data Solutions; Redfin; Radian Inc.; TransUnion; Black Knight; Zillow; and PayNearMe.

Industry Briefs

Ginnie Mae, Washington, D.C., issued All Participants Memorandum 20-05 (APM 20-05), announcing expansion of its Issuer assistance programs in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Industry Briefs

IndiSoft, Columbia, Md., launched The Homeowner Connect to help servicers communicate effectively with borrowers who need loss mitigation help during the COVID-19 crisis.