Goldman Sachs has forgiven a total of $78.7 million in principal on 746 first-lien mortgages since Aug. 1, 2018, as it neared fulfillment of a $1.8 billion consumer-relief obligation under two mortgage-related settlement agreements, according to independent monitor Eric Green.

PrimeLending is churning through loan originators, recruiting strong candidates and letting go of “non-performers” as lenders battle for purchase mortgages. In recent months, the retail lender owned by PlainsCapital Bank hired about 250 LOs and released about 200 others, according to Alan White, chairman of PlainsCapital Bank and co-CEO and vice chairman of Hilltop Holdings, which owns the bank. “We’ve been able to upgrade our staff,” he said during Hilltop’s earnings call ...

First Horizon National Corp. is seeing strong profits from its warehouse lending efforts. Loans to mortgage companies are the bank holding company’s most profitable lending business, according to officials at First Horizon. Warehouse lending is completed through the company’s banking subsidiary, First Tennessee. As of the end of the second quarter, First Tennessee had $3.0 billion in warehouse lending commitments, according to Inside Mortgage Finance. BJ Losch, an executive ...

The profit picture varied widely among the shrinking number of publicly-traded nonbank mortgage lenders during the third quarter. A new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis reveals that seven companies generated a total of $235.45 million from their mortgage banking businesses during the third quarter. That was up 14.8 percent from the previous period largely because New Residential Mortgage increased its profits and Impac cut its losses. An eighth nonbank ... [Includes one data chart]

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac posted a combined net profit of $6.72 billion for the third quarter while continuing to expand their credit-risk transfer programs. GSE earnings as a whole were down slightly from the $6.96 billion in the previous quarter, but that can be primarily attributed to Fannie’s 10.0 percent drop from the second quarter to $4.01 billion. Fannie’s new chief financial officer, Celeste Brown, said the decrease was due to lower credit-related income ... [Includes one data chart]

There is widespread consensus about the future role of the government in mortgage finance, but it’s by no means homogenous. The Trump administration gets to name a new director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency who can work with Treasury to steer the GSEs toward a revised, likely narrower, role. The new FHFA chief will have command of the enterprises for five years, with dim prospects of Congress tackling long-term reform. Michael Stegman, senior fellow for housing policy at ...

This week’s midterm election ushered in a sea-change in the House of Representatives but it’s uncertain how it will influence housing finance reform. Now that the Democrats are the majority in the House, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) is in line to serve as chair of the House Financial Services Committee. Back in July, Waters said fixing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would be a top priority if Democrats take control of the House. She’s been at odds with outgoing chair, Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-TX ...

The Federal Housing Finance Agency wants to do away with some of the targeted housing goals for the Federal Home Loan Banks in favor of a more streamlined approach. The regulator issued a proposed rule last week that would remove separate home-purchase mortgage targets for low-income families, low-income areas, very low-income families, and a target for low-income family refinance mortgages. The FHFA recommends replacing those four goals with one succinct goal that doesn’t ...

The Federal Home Loan Bank System’s combined net income dropped 3.0 percent in the third quarter of 2018 but year-to-date profits were still a comfortable 10.4 percent above the same period last year. Advances were down 1.9 percent year-over-year, having dropped 3.9 percent for the quarter. The FHLBank Office of Finance reported that third-quarter net income was $942 million, down slightly from $971 million in the second quarter. But cumulative ... [Includes one data chart]

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac transferred risk on about $367 billion of unpaid principal balance in the first half of the year as the GSEs target a larger share of single-family loans. The Federal Housing Finance Agency published a credit-risk transfer progress report last week highlighting activity through the second quarter of 2018. This report marks the first time the FHFA is reporting the percentage of the GSEs’ targeted single-family and multifamily acquisitions that are covered by credit-risk transfer ...