Ownership of mortgage servicing rights on a large portfolio of government-sponsored enterprise single-family loans is trading hands.
MSRs on approximately $51 billion in residential loans
that are guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac have been sold, a news release Thursday said.
Borrowers on the
conventional, conforming mortgages will be advised of the servicing transfer prior to the expected transfer in the fourth quarter.
The seller of the MSRs is
Seneca Mortgage Investment.
Seneca
had been growing, with plans in 2014 to add 125 employees in New York state. But then it sold its servicing operations to Nationstar Mortgage Holdings Inc. and began cutting back on staffing.
Wells Fargo & Co. was the buyer. The San Francisco-based bank-holding company last reported a total mortgage servicing portfolio of $1.532 trillion as of June 30 — making it the biggest U.S. mortgage servicer.
Wells Fargo’s Des Moines, Iowa-based mortgage business will provide detailed welcome information when the transfer takes place.
“We look forward to the opportunity to provide excellent service to these new mortgage customers and are committed to making this a smooth transition for them,” Franklin Codel, Wells Fargo’s head of consumer lending, said in the statement. “Mortgage servicing is an attractive, core business for Wells Fargo, and this transaction provides an opportunity for us to strategically enhance our servicing portfolio.”
Additional details about the sales were not disclosed.
