Bankruptcy Activity Mixed
Annual and quarterly bankruptcy filings by consumers jumped, but monthly activity was lower.

Last year, 1,064,927 consumer bankruptcies were filed, the American Bankruptcy Institute reported yesterday.

Filings were up around one-third from a revised 801,840 filings during 2007.
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The LOS Digest
Developers of loan origination systems are stepping up their alliances with other mortgage technology vendors -- including document preparation and credit reporting firms. Another LOS trend is the migration from software to Web-based services.

Fannie Tightens DTIs, Credit Scores
Fannie Mae will begin requiring minimum credit scores on government mortgages it acquires. In addition, the secondary lender has instituted a new maximum debt-to-income ratio on manually underwritten conventional loans.

Bankruptcies Ease
A reprieve in consumer bankruptcy filings is expected to be only temporary.

Freddie Cuts Fees, Tightens Guidelines
Freddie Mac is cutting delivery fees, implementing a new appraisal form and restricting debt-to-income ratios, loan-to-values and credit scores. The secondary lender did ease up, however, on bankruptcy requirements.

Lender Settles With FTC
The Federal Trade Commission announced a settlement with a Texas-based mortgage company over allegations the company enabled a home seller to regularly use its credit bureau access without establishing procedures to ensure private data was protected. A computer hacker eventually gained unauthorized access to dozens of credit reports and pulled hundreds more.

Bankruptcies Surge
Consumer bankruptcies jumped 20 percent last month.

Banks Continue to Tighten Guidelines
The latest bank loan officer survey reflected no relief in the tightening of credit.

Credit Magic
The developer of a new system claims it helps originators turn declined applications into approved loans.

MGIC Tightens Guidelines
Next month, Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp. will roll out more restrictive underwriting guidelines.