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VISIT US ONLINE @ DSNEWS.COM had access to all loan origination files and simply opted not to conduct due diligence before committing to the loans. Now, "[r]ather than accepting responsibility for the insurance policies it wrote, MBIA seeks to walk away from its contracts, by among other things, claiming that it was defrauded by each and every one of these issuers, including Countrywide," the memorandum says. Oral arguments on the summary judgment motions began in November. North Carolina rank: 26 90+ Day Delinquency Rate Foreclosure Rate september 2012 2.88% Unemployment Rate 2.75% James Williamson & Associates 9.6% year ago 3.03% 3.13% 10.7% percent point change -5.0% -12.3% -10.3% Top County 90+ Day Delinquency Rate ANsoN CouNTy Foreclosure Rate REO Sales & Marketing, 20+Years REO Brokerage, Property Preservation 336.682.4007 or 336.655.5990 fax: 800.795.7065 james@jamesewilliamson.com september 2012 MetLife Agrees to Sell Servicing Portfolio The country's largest life insurance provider is selling its mortgage servicing portfolio to one of the country's biggest mortgage servicers. MetLife, Inc., announced an agreement last month to sell MetLife Bank's mortgage servicing portfolio to JPMorgan Chase Bank. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed, but MetLife revealed in a statement that the portfolio is worth approximately $70 billion. MetLife's entire retail banking business, including mortgages, represented less than 2 percent of its operating earnings in 2011. The company decided at that point to focus on its business as a global insurer and employee benefits provider. "Since that time, MetLife has entered into agreements to sell MetLife bank's deposit business to GE capital, sold the bank's warehouse finance business to EverBank, sold the bank's reverse mortgage servicing rights to Nationstar, and ceased writing residential mortgages," explained Jim Rose, MetLife Bank president. In a regulatory filing in October, MetLife announced it was exploring a sale of its mortgage servicing portfolio and began reporting MetLife Bank's forward mortgage servicing assets and operations as divested businesses. As a result of the purchase, Chase's $1.1 trillion servicing business is expected to grow by more than 5 percent. "The acquisition of this high-quality portfolio reflects strategy to strengthen and grow our servicing business," said Eric Schuppenhauer, head of mortgage servicing at Chase. "We will be able to provide our full range of products and services to an additional 350,000 individuals and families. We expect that many of these customers will take advantage of historically low interest rates by refinancing." North Carolina 3.48% 5.13% MEMBER year ago 5.38% 5.09% percent point change -35.3% 0.7% Top Core-Based statistical Area NorTh WilkesBoro, NC 90+ Day Foreclosure Delinquency Rate Rate september 2012 2.99% 4.19% year ago 2.63% 4.49% percent point change 13.6% -6.6% note: The 90+ Day delinquecy rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans that are 90plus days delinquent. The foreclosure rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans currently in foreclosure. State rank is based on the September 2012 foreclosure rate. All figures are rounded to the nearest decimal. The unemployment rate reflects preliminary September 2012 figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. All other data courtesy of Lender Processing Services. IN THE NEWS Hammerhouse Expands Office in North Carolina Hammerhouse LLC announced in October that it has expanded its Eastern U.S. headquarters and brought on additional staff in order to meet the increased demands of its growing client base. Hammerhouse, an expanding national recruiting and strategic growth firm for the financial service industry with mortgage sales and leadership placement at its core, has doubled the size of its office in Hickory, North Carolina. "The need to expand our Hickory, North Carolina office is a direct result of the increased demand from our mortgage banking clients for experienced retail and wholesale production professionals that focus on purchase business and have transferable relationships from referral partners and past customers," said Eric Levin, managing partner at Hammerhouse and head of the Eastern U.S. In addition, the company hired Lisa Medeiros and Brandi Floyd to support and service clients' strategic initiatives for production growth. Medeiros, brought on as a recruiter and strategic growth partner, joins Hammerhouse with more than 25 years of experience in executive recruiting and sales. Previously, she was an executive recruiter for a firm that focused on sourcing mortgage banking professionals, and before that she held various sales positions in financial services and other industries. In her new role at Hammerhouse, Medeiros will partner with clients to support their production platforms' growth in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern markets. Floyd brings with her a strong background in inside/outside sales support, marketing, and public relations. In her role as recruiting coordinator, she will support Hammerhouse's Eastern United States recruiting team and will assist clients in the day-to-day management of all sales support and marketing activities. The expansion of Hammerhouse's office and staff will help the company prepare to launch its operations talent recruiting division, named Tactical Ops Recruiting Quality—or TORQ. "The hiring of both Lisa and Brandi will ensure we are positioned to offer our clients the service and support they need to find modelmatched origination to grow their production channels, and in the not too distant future, experienced operational professionals through our new division TORQ ," Levin said. Officials Charge 17 More in Massive Mortgage Fraud Scheme A massive mortgage fraud investigation led to 17 defendants being charged 117