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VISIT US ONLINE @ DSNEWS.COM make the case a class and collective action case. "FLSA violations have been pervasive throughout the mortgage industry," stated Rowdy B. Meeks of Rowdy Meeks Legal Group LLC. "We allege Sterling Savings Bank willfully violated the FLSA and hope this case and others will convince the mortgage banking industry to comply with labor laws." The law firms will attempt to recover to act and plaintiff will not suffer any hard- ship as a result." "The Chief Judge's ruling is consistent IN THE NEWS overtime wages, illegal wage deductions, liquidated damages, and litigation fees for any eligible loan officers who worked for Sterling Savings or Golf Savings over the past six years. Sterling Savings declined to comment on the matter. FROM THE BENCH Oregon Judge Rules in Favor of MERS District Court for the District of Oregon dis- missed a borrower's lawsuit against Merscorp Holdings, Inc., Delta Financial Liquidating Trust, Ocwen Loan Servicing, and HSBC Banks. MERS made the announcement September 12 for the case Oliver v. Delta Financial Liquidating Trust. The borrower in the case was actually not Chief Judge Ann Aiken for the U.S. in default. In the plaintiff's complaint, the borrower alleged that none of the defendants held an interest in his property because none of the defendants recorded the transfer of his promissory note in county records when his mortgage was sold by the original lender. The plaintiff asserted that he should be able to keep the property without having to repay the note. In the opinion written by Judge Aiken, with Niday because that decision did not in- validate deeds of trust that identify MERS as beneficiary," said Janis Smith, Merscorp's VP of corporate communications. "This ruling also emphasizes that Niday concerns only the requirements for non-judicial foreclosures and certainly does not relieve borrowers of the obligation to repay their mortgage debt." KNOW THIS Of Oregon's $29 million from the national mortgage settlement, 75% has not been allocated, Enterprise Community Partners found, while $7.6 million was authorized for mediation services, housing counseling, legal aid, and outreach programs. Pennsylvania rank: 15 90+ Day 2.61% 2.84% -8.2% 90+ Day the recent Oregon Court of Appeals decision in Niday v. GMAC Mortgage LLC was cited, which determined that under Oregon law, a transfer of the note automatically transfers possession of the security interest (the deed of trust) in the property to the next note owner. Aiken dismissed claims against the defen- 5.43% year ago 5.98% percent point change -9.3% 28.4% NEW YORK-NORTHERN NEW JERSEY-LONG ISLAND, NY-NJ-PA 90+ Day Top Core-Based Statistical Area Foreclosure Delinquency Rate dants, ruling that failure to record note trans- fers in the county records "fails to articulate a legal basis to remove the [deed of trust] from the property or otherwise allege any wrongful conduct that is redressable by this court." The opinion also stated that the since plaintiff has not defaulted on his loan or paid it off, "there is no current need for this court august 2012 4.03% year ago 4.50% percent point change -10.4% 17.7% note: The 90+ Day delinquecy rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans that are 90- plus days delinquent. The foreclosure rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans currently in foreclosure. State rank is based on the August 2012 foreclosure rate. All figures are rounded to the nearest decimal. The unemployment rate reflects preliminary August 2012 figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. All other data courtesy of Lender Processing Services. 7.13% 8.39% Rate 10.95% Delinquency Rate Foreclosure Rate august 2012 3.96% year ago 3.19% percent point change 24.3% Top County MONROE COUNTY Delinquency Rate august 2012 14.06% Unemployment Rate 8.1% 8.1% 0.0% Foreclosure Rate Radian Announces Launch of New Programs Radian Guaranty Inc. is offering a program that provides cash rewards to homeowners who stay current on their newly modified Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) mortgages. The Responsible Homeowner Reward (RH Reward) program works to motivate borrowers to maintain their newly modified payments through cash incentives. The program is administered exclusively by New Jersey-based Loan Value Group LLC. "Our RH Reward program, which Philadelphia-based mortgage insurer operates in nearly all 50 states, is designed to target and reduce negative equity for nearly 12 million underwater borrowers and has the proven ability to positively influence payment behavior—lowering default rates by more than 50 percent since 2010," said Frank Pal- lotta, a managing partner with Loan Value Group. Radian will select eligible homeowners to enroll in the program. Participants will have a reward account that accumulates with each on-time mortgage payment. The reward is given when the mortgage is paid off or refinanced. "We believe it's important to support responsible borrowers who modified their mortgages to try to keep their homes, by recognizing their efforts to remain current on their payments in these difficult economic times," said Scott Theobald, Radian's chief risk officer. The company also announced in mid- September that its new mortgage insurance (MI) rate finder app has landed in the iTunes App Store. The app, called "Radian Rates," is avail- able for free for iPhone and iPad. It is a mobile version of Radian's existing online rate finder, offering lenders access to quick and reliable Radian MI rate quotes. App users can input loan criteria and receive an automatic calculation for the MI rate for a variety of Radian products, allow- ing users to find the product that best fits their needs. "We know our customers are busy," said Brien McMahon, chief franchise officer and head of sales for Radian. "That's why we're always looking for innovative ways to make doing business with Radian quicker and 103

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