At the end of March mortgage companies were servicing just shy of $9.5 trillion in home loans, a 4% decline from a year ago, and a sign that foreclosures and "cash-in" refinancings are continuing to play a key role in reducing residential debt.
According to figures compiled by National Mortgage News and the Quarterly Data Report, mortgage debt outstanding peaked at $10.1 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2009. Since then it's been a steady slide as consumers default on their loans, removing those mortgages from the dockets of the nation's servicing companies — especially larger players such as Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co., and JPMorgan Chase & Co.
National Mortgage News and the Quarterly Data Report found that B of A and Wells continue to dominate the servicing landscape, controlling just over 40% of the market.
At the end of March, B of A serviced $2.01 trillion in home mortgages, giving it a market share of 21.23%. Wells Fargo ranked a somewhat close second with $1.8 trillion in mortgage servicing rights and a 19.09% share. JPMorgan Chase was a distant third with $1.23 trillion, and a 13.02% share.
According to the National Mortgage News, four of the nation's top five servicers saw their portfolios decline in the first quarter compared with the first quarter of 2010. Wells Fargo managed a meager 1% growth rate in MSRs.
