Sacramento highest in Dec. mortgage defaults among NoCal counties (Sacramento Business Journal)
Sacramento County led Northern California counties in mortgage loan defaults in December, with 2,643 homes sliding into foreclosure, according to data released Friday.

States Unveil Mortgage Licensing System (Kansas City InfoZine)
By Pauline Vu - States have a new tool to regulate mortgage companies and access their track records, including information on companies punished in other states for fraud or predatory lending.

Mortgage lenders ordered to pay $99 million in punitive damages (The Kansas City Star)
A Jackson County jury Friday ordered three mortgage lenders to pay $99 million in punitive damages to Missouri residents who claimed they were charged illegal fees for second mortgages.

Loan Funds Were 2007's Worst Performers on Subprime (Update2) (Bloomberg.com)
Jan. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Mutual funds that buy bank loans turned in the smallest gains of any fixed-income group in 2007 after subprime-mortgage losses scared off high-yield debt investors.

Trust Financial Selects Ocwen's REALSynergy Commercial Loan Servicing Platform (PrimeNewswire via Yahoo! Finance)
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., Jan. 3, 2008 -- Ocwen Financial Corporation announced today that Trust Financial, a mortgage company specializing in real estate loans for farms, ranches, dairy facilities, timber and agribusinesses, has chosen Ocwen's REALSynergy, a proven and leading edge commercial and multi-family loan servicing platform, to support its growing commercial loan portfolio.

Loan crisis in Prince George's (Baltimore Sun)
Home mortgage foreclosures soar The mortgage crisis roiling communities across the country is being acutely felt in Prince George's County, where thousands of residents -- many lured in recent years by relatively affordable real estate prices -- are in danger of losing their homes.

Thornburg Mortgage Names Caren Shiozaki Chief Information Officer (wallstreet:online AG)
Thornburg Mortgage, Inc. (NYSE:TMA), announced today that Caren Shiozaki has been appointed chief

California budget mess brings Schwarzenegger full circle (The San Francisco Examiner)
SACRAMENTO, Calif. ( Map , News ) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will declare a fiscal emergency this week and release his blueprint for closing an estimated $14 billion budget deficit, a gap so large that cuts to schools, health care and welfare programs appear inevitable.

U.S. MBA's Mortgage Applications Index Fell 12% Last Week (Bloomberg.com)
Jan. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Mortgage applications in the U.S. fell 12 percent last week as refinancing plunged and purchases dropped to the lowest level in four years.

Thornburg Mortgage Names Caren Shiozaki Chief Information Officer (Business Wire via Yahoo! Finance)
SANTA FE, N.M.----Thornburg Mortgage, Inc. , announced today that Caren Shiozaki has been appointed chief information officer and executive vice president of Thornburg Mortgage. She has also been appointed a managing director of Thornburg Mortgage Advisory Corporation.