Banks Selling Off Mortgages To Collectors

[Kilika]

No surprise here. Most creditors do this. Personally, I don't agree with the practice. To me, if the creditor wants to collect on a debt, then they should keep that debt till they either collect themselves, or they write it off as uncollectable, discharging the debt. This tactic of selling debt paper to third parties is now a part of doing business, so they can "clear the books". Seems to me to be an accounting "slight of hand", and the debtor is the one that will pay heavily due to all the extra "fees and penalties" the collector tacks on to the original debt, thereby bumping their income from the collection.

Bank of America alone is selling off 300 billion in loans just this week.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/08/us-bankofamerica-mortgages-idUSBRE9070ML20130108

Exclusive: Bank of America to sell service rights on $100 billion of mortgages

By Jessica Toonkel

NEW YORK | Tue Jan 8, 2013 12:38pm EST

(Reuters) - Bank of America Corp is looking to sell collection rights on at least another $100 billion of mortgages after announcing similar deals for more than $300 billion on Monday, according to two sources familiar with the situation.

The sources, who declined to be identified because they are not allowed to speak to the press, expect Bank of America to announce more sales of collection rights, known as mortgage servicing rights, in the next several weeks.

On Monday, the bank said that it is selling mortgage servicing rights on $215 billion of home loans to Nationstar Mortgage Holdings for $1.3 billion, and MSRs on another $93 billion of mortgages to Walter Investment Management for $519 million.

Big banks are looking to sell residential mortgage servicing rights as Basel III capital rules start going into effect making it more costly for banks to hold onto the rights.

Ally Financial Inc.'s banking subsidiary is also looking to sell $122 billion of MSRs. Ocwen Financial Corp, Nationstar and Walter are among a handful of firms looking at purchasing a portion of Ally's MSRs, according to the sources.

Bank of America spokesman Dan Frahm declined to comment on any specific transactions, but said the bank had been selling mortgage servicing rights for years and that approach remained part of its strategy.

"By reducing the size of our portfolio, we improve customer service capacity and resolve legacy mortgage issues and reduce risk in our portfolio," he said. (cont.)