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New York rank: 4 90+ Day Delinquency Rate Foreclosure Rate May 2013 3.1% Unemployment Rate 5.8% 7.6% year ago 3.0% 6.1% 8.6% year-over-year change 2.1% -6.3% -11.6% Top County SullivaN CouNTY 90+ Day Delinquency Rate May 2013 2.6% Foreclosure Rate 2.5% year ago 3.3% 4.0% year-over-year change -22.5% -37.4% Top Core-Based Statistical area KiNgSToN, NY 90+ Day Delinquency Rate Foreclosure Rate May 2013 5.1% 8.6% year ago 4.3% 8.7% year-over-year change 16.5% -1.5% note: The 90+ day delinquecy rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans that are seriously delinquent. The foreclosure rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans currently in foreclosure. State rank is based on the May 2013 foreclosure rate. All figures are rounded to the nearest decimal. The unemployment rate reflects preliminary May 2013 figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. All other data courtesy of LPS Applied Analytics. IN THE NEWS Accenture Acquires Mortgage Cadence New York-based Accenture recently announced its acquisition of Mortgage Cadence, a provider of loan origination software and e-document management services. The acquisition adds a technology platform to strengthen Accenture's business process outsourcing (BPO) services and enables the company to provide software to mortgage lenders looking for a way to increase efficiencies and reduce costs, Accenture explained. According to Terry Moore, global managing director of Accenture Credit Services, the timing of the acquisition was important given the regulatory challenges facing the market and the end of the refinance boom—which he believes "masked inefficiencies in the mortgage process." Mortgage Cadence stood out from other technology providers because of its underwriting technology, which boosts Accenture's efficiency by 30 to 40 percent without sacrificing quality, the company said. "The U.S. mortgage industry is entering an era in which efficiency, speed, and the 88 customer experience will be more crucial than ever in determining winners and losers," Moore said. "By adding this key mortgage processing asset, we will enhance our endto-end credit services capabilities and bring a new generation of mortgage processing services to the industry. This offers lenders improved speed-to-market, cycle-time, costs, and productivity." Under the agreement—subject to customary closing requirements—Mortgage Cadence will become a part of Accenture, and its software will be incorporated into Accenture Credit Services. Accenture will use the Mortgage Cadence technology as a core loan origination platform to process mortgages on behalf of its outsourcing clients. Accenture will also offer the software to lenders on a standalone basis as part of its banking software portfolio. "As the U.S. mortgage industry evolves, leading-edge technology applications for processing loans have taken on tremendous importance in terms of competitive advantage, growth, and profitability," said Jim Astorian, managing director for Accenture Software. "This acquisition reflects our continued focus on investing in and developing core software technologies that will help our financial services industry clients succeed in an evolving marketplace." Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Report Suggests Relaxing HARP Rules to Help More Borrowers If two tweaks were made to the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP), refinancing activity could increase "substantially," according to a report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Despite rising home prices, there are still millions of homeowners struggling with little to no equity, explained Joshua Abel and Joseph Tracy, the authors of the report. According to Lender Processing Services' most recent estimate, there are still 7.3 million underwater mortgages. One "sensible response" to tackle the issue of negative equity is HARP, the Fed report suggested. Since HARP's 2009 inception, more than 2.5 million borrowers have refinanced under the program, and many of those borrowers were underwater. For example, from January to April of this year, 44 percent of homeowners who refinanced under the program had loan-to-value (LTV) ratios greater than 105 percent. The researchers explained that much of HARP's success is due to program changes in 2012, one of which included removing the 125 percent LTV ceiling. However, it might be time for even more program changes, the report stated. Abel and Tracy advocate removing the cutoff date that limits eligibility to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans obtained by June 1, 2009. The second change they suggest is to allow borrowers to refinance under the program more than once. According to their report, by eliminating the cutoff date entirely, the number of borrowers who would be "in-the-money" would increase by about 530,000, an increase of more than 30 percent. In-the-money borrowers are those who could recoup the costs of refinancing, such as the appraisal cost and program fees, within three years based on the savings from HARP. Under current guidelines, the authors estimate there are about 1.5 million borrowers who are eligible for HARP and in-the-money. Additionally, by removing the rule that limits borrowers to just one HARP refinance, eligibility would increase by more than 55 percent, the Fed researchers concluded. Citi to Pay Fannie Mae $968M in Repurchase Claim Agreement Citigroup and Fannie Mae announced an agreement to resolve future repurchase claims for breaches of representations and warranties on millions of loans originated between 2000 and 2012. According to a statement from New York-based Citi, the agreement covers 3.7 million residential first mortgage loans sold to Fannie Mae during that time period. Citi is not released from liability regarding servicing or other ongoing contractual obligations on the loans. The bank is also still responsible for a population of less than 12,000 loans originated in the same time frame with certain characteristics, such as those sold with a performance guaranty or under special credit enhancement programs. As part of the agreement, Citi will pay Fannie Mae $968 million, "substantially all of which was covered" by the bank's existing mortgage repurchase reserves as of the end of the first quarter, Citi noted. The company estimates it will record a residential mortgage repurchase reserve build of $245 million in its