Full Slate of Servicing Hearings on Tap

In their first week back since the midterm elections, lawmakers are taking up the robo-signing scandal in multiple venues.

A Senate Banking Committee hearing Tuesday afternoon will focus on problems in the servicing industry. Then a House Financial Services Committee subcommittee will address the issue at a 10 a.m. hearing Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Congressional Oversight Panel is expected to release a report Tuesday on the consequences of foreclosure irregularities.

The oversight panel, established to monitor the financial bailout, is chaired by Sen. Ted Kaufman, D-Del.

Among those slated to testify at the Senate hearing, "Problems in Mortgage Servicing from Modification to Foreclosure," are Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller; Barbara Desoer, the president of Bank of America Home Loans; David Lowman, the chief executive of Chase Home Lending; Adam Levitin, a Georgetown University law professor; National Consumer Law Center counsel Diane Thompson; and R.K. Arnold, the president and chief executive of Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems Inc.

The House hearing, "Robo-Signing, Chain of Title, Loss Mitigation and Other Issues in Mortgage Servicing," will be before the subcommittee on housing and community opportunity.

The expected witnesses include Federal Reserve Board Gov. Elizabeth Duke; Federal Housing Administration Commissioner David Stevens; John Walsh, the acting comptroller of the currency; Edward DeMarco, acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency; and Phyllis Caldwell, the chief of the Treasury Department's Housing Preservation Office.

The House panel is also expected to hear from six industry witnesses: R.K. Arnold of MERS; Citigroup Inc.'s Steve Smith; Bank of America servicing executive Rebecca Mairone; Alan Jones, the head of servicing at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage; Thomas Marano, the chief executive of mortgage operations at Ally Financial Inc.; and Stephanie Mudick, the executive vice president of JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s office of consumer practices.

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