Aurora Loan Services to expand Nebraska facility
By PATRICK CROWLEY
1/16/2006

Enticed by nearly $2 million from the local government, a Scottsbluff, Neb.-based mortgage servicer plans to remain in the city and add 150 new employees over the next two years.

The Scottsbluff City Council has approved a deal that will pay Aurora Loan Services $1.8 million over the next three years, Rawnda Pierce, executive director of Twin Cities Development, confirmed to MortgageDaily.com.

Aurora had considered moving the servicing facility to Colorado but the incentive package put together by Twin Cities Development and the state of Nebraska convinced the company to stay, Pierce said.

Under the agreement the city agreed to purchase Aurora's existing buildings in Scottsbluff for $1.8 million. In return Aurora will purchase 12 acres for the new facility near Western Nebraska Community College.

The city will either sell the buildings to another company or possibly use some of the space for city offices, Pierce said.

Aurora is a unit of Lehman Brothers Holdings. The Scottsbluff facility performs primary mortgage, according to Fitch Ratings.

In a Dec. 20 report Fitch said Aurora is "appropriately positioned ... and is adequately prepared for the potential of a rising delinquency environment."

Earlier this year, Aurora opened a satellite servicing office in Mumbai, India, with 54 workers. Employment there has since grown to 200, Fitch said in the report.

According to Fitch, as of June 30, Aurora primary serviced almost 436,304 mortgage loans totaling $73.4 billion. Of those loans $53.5 billion were Alt-A, $13.9 billion were conventional, $4.1 billion were government loans and the remainder were small business administration, subprime, and HELOC loans. Aurora also special serviced 7,725 loans totaling $628,430,910.

Aurora's master servicing division is on a growth spurt, according to Fitch.

"The master servicing division has almost doubled its portfolio size in both number of loans and dollar volume since 2003," Fitch said. "As of June 30 ... Aurora's master servicing division master serviced 864,288 loans totaling almost $139.8 billion, of which $122.7 billion were private residential mortgage-backed securitizations and of which $17.1 billion were Lehman or third-party wholly owned loans."

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