First Palmetto Mortgage Inc. in Greenville, S.C., was acquired by Countybank, according to published reports.

Curtis Mortgage reportedly merged with Northstar Bank and will operate as Northstar Bank Mortgage.

The two acquisitions follow Rockville Bank’s recent acquisition of Family Choice Mortgage Corp. and North State Bank’s recent acquisition of the mortgage operations of Affiliated Mortgage LLC.

Last week, four federally insured banks and thrifts failed.

Each institution was handed over to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation as receiver.

No buyer could be found for Waterfield Bank, which was closed by the Office of Thrift Supervision.

In addition, no buyer was found for Centennial Bank, which was closed by the Utah Department of Financial Institutions.

During the fourth-quarter 2009, 134 mortgage-related lawsuits were tracked in the Fourth Quarter Mortgage Litigation Index announced by MortgageDaily.com and prepared in conjunction with Patton Boggs LLP.

Case activity increased from 76 cases documented in the third quarter.

It was the highest quarter on record since tracking began in 2007.

Loan modification cases were the driving force behind the increase, more than doubling from the third quarter.

Well Fargo Bank, N.A., was the biggest retail lender during the fourth quarter, according to data provided by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to MortgageDaily.com.

The data were collected for first-mortgage activity at FDIC-insured banks and thrifts with at least $1 billion in assets or $10 million in quarterly originations.

Wells Fargo also grabbed the top wholesaler spot.

The government reported that U.S. mortgage headcount declined 1 percent between December and January.

Compared to a year earlier, mortgage employment was 5 percent lower.

The number of "mortgage and nonmortgage loan brokers" fell 4 percent from December.

Fourth quarter 2009 production fell 21 percent from the third quarter, Citgroup Inc. reported to MortgageDaily.com.

Compared to the fourth-quarter 2008, originations were down one-third.

Full-year residential fundings fell 22 percent from 2008.

The U.S. Department of Justice announced a settlement with Wilmington Finance Inc. and AIG Federal Savings Bank.

Both firms are subsidiaries of American International Group Inc.

"Today’s settlement is significant because it marks the first time the Justice Department has held a lender responsible for failing to monitor its brokers to ensure that borrowers are not charged higher fees because of their race," the assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in the statement.

"Pete Makowiecki has left MetLife Home Loans," the company said in a statement to MortgageDaily.com.

Makowiecki had been with the company and its predacessor for around nine years.

MetLife also confirmed the departure of its president, national marketing production.

U.S. consumers are starting to look like a frugal, debt-fearing lot as they pay down billions of dollars in credit-card obligations. But an alarming trend is emerging: A small but growing number of people are skipping mortgage payments in favor of paying their credit-card bills.

January’s new business acquisitions at Fannie Mae was down by nearly a quarter from December, the company reported.

Residential delinquency climbed 9 basis points during December.

Meanwhile, Fannie reported that it had a $73 billion loss during 2009.