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COVER
STORY
INDUSTRY
INSIGHT
INDUSTRY
INSIGHT
What does it take
to find balance in a
'post-crisis' world?
Let's face it, the market had to recover at some point. It's strange
to couch it in those terms but this is Default Servicing News, and
lately the servicing of defaulted loans has slowed significantly.
"It's a little scary out there," said Steve, a
mid-level default servicing industry professional
who requested anonymity for this piece. "I
know it sounds horrible to say but the worse the
market is, the more job security I have. Right
now… we just don't know."
Case in point, Wells Fargo recently
announced that it cut nearly 500 mortgage
employees for housing market-related changes.
A spokesman for Wells Fargo told DS News that
the reason behind the massive job cuts was "the
result of continuing market changes, including
improvements in delinquency and foreclosure
rates and reduced demand for mortgage
financing." A grand total of 490 team members
were affected across the country. e jobs
eliminated were all in Wells Fargo's mortgage
servicing department.
But Wells Fargo is not alone. In 2015 Bank
of America cut approximately about 350 jobs in
Charlotte, North Carolina. e cuts made were
from the bank's Legacy Asset Servicing (LAS)
Division, which works with customers who are
delinquent on their mortgage payments, and the
technology and operations unit.
e steep decline in the number of
distressed properties in the last five years or so
since the foreclosure crisis peaked is a central
contributing factor. As more jobs are added
nationwide each month and the unemployment
rate dips to pre-recession levels, the number
of foreclosed homes is seeing a corresponding
substantial decline.
DON'T CALL IT A COMEBACK
Just how many fewer foreclosed properties
are out there? CoreLogic reported that the
nationwide foreclosure inventory totaled
433,000 in December, or 1.1 percent of all
homes with a mortgage, which was down
by almost one-quarter (23.8 percent) from
December 2014 and the lowest foreclosure
inventory level for any one month since
December 2007. e number of completed
foreclosures in December 2015 was down 22
percent year-over-year and down 72.8 percent
