Earnings from production-related activity and servicing fell modestly in the fourth quarter, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of earnings reports filed by a dozen top publicly traded companies. The 12 lenders reported a combined $1.125 billion in income from loan originations and secondary market sales during the fourth quarter. That was down 9.0 percent from the previous period. Some of the earnings decline resulted from a slowdown ... [Includes one data chart]

The Federal Home Loan Banks would have more flexibility in allocating their affordable housing funds under a proposed rule issued last week from the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The FHFA estimates that the number of competitive AH program competitive applications the banks receive may increase by 10 percent with this change. In addition to giving the FHLBanks additional authority over their funds, the rule would authorize them to set up special competitive funds targeting affordable housing needs in their districts. It would also give the banks authority to design and implement their own project selection scoring criteria, subject to meeting certain FHFA requirements.

Commercial banks and savings institutions serviced $3.621 trillion in home loans for other investors at the end of 2017, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of call-report data. After a brief spurt higher in the third quarter, bank servicing-for-others was down 0.8 percent during the final three months of the year. The industry’s SFO balance had been dropping steadily since the end of 2010 – with declining balances in 20 of 22 quarters – as many ... [Includes one data chart]

The GSEs purchased close to 100,000 low-downpayment loans from 2013 to 2016, but not all borrowers participated in a homeownership counseling course when required, according to a recent audit.In a new report, the Federal Housing Finance Agency Office of Inspector General concluded that both Fannie and Freddie had high rates of compliance in their 97 percent loan-to-value programs.During the three-year period, the GSEs purchased 94,328 loans that fit into the 97 percent mortgage product. Fannie was responsible for 74,700 of those loans with about one-fourth of the borrowers requiring homeownership education. This is where the GSE fell short.

Both GSEs have now paid the government the 10 percent compound rate of return required by the original senior preferred stock agreement, according to the R Street Institute. The think tank’s senior fellow, Alex Pollock, said it’s time to put the senior preferred stock purchase agreement to rest. Fannie just recently joined Freddie in this “10 percent moment.” He said because Treasury has received dividend payments from both Fannie and Freddie that equal the economic equivalent of repayment of the entire principal of their senior preferred stock, plus a full 10 percent yield, “it is now entirely reasonable for it to consider declaring the senior preferred stock retired.”

Caliber Home Loans has announced a new mobile platform designed to simplify the loan process for borrowers and key players in the homebuying and mortgage financing chain. The platform features three mobile phone apps customized for borrowers, Caliber’s sales force, real estate agents and homebuilders. The apps provides efficient and effective communication among all parties from home shopping to as far as servicing the loan. “We are a retail shop that provides ..

Possible changes suggested for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could lead to borrowers paying an extra $400 a month in mortgage payments, according to a new analysis from Zillow. If the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage were to be done away with, Zillow said future mortgage borrowers would get loans with shorter terms and higher interest rates. For example, without the popular 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, the typical buyer would pay an additional $390 each month on the median-priced home for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage. Moreover, the conforming market would move closer to the jumbo sector. Zillow noted that a 30-year non-conforming loan would cost borrowers about $20 more per month than they now pay.

A battle is brewing over whether Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should allow lenders to use alternatives to the ubiquitous FICO credit score. Some industry participants argue that the current credit scoring system works well. Others complain that the Federal Housing Finance Agency and the GSEs should be doing more to encourage alternatives to a system some deem outdated. The FHFA has been evaluating alternative credit scoring models over the past year and charged the GSEs with closely examining potential changes in how they use credit scores. Right now Fannie and Freddie rely exclusively on the Classic FICO score.

Credit reporting company Experian recently introduced a new product to provide lenders with a wider view into client behavior over time with records from all three national credit bureaus. The new product, Trended 3D, would synthesize a 24-month history of five key credit report fields – balance, credit limit or original loan amount, scheduled payment amount, actual payment amount, and last payment date – and provide a spectrum of user trends. Experian said a conventional credit report is ...

House-flip purchase financing totaled $16.1 billion in 2017, up 27 percent from $12.7 billion in 2016 – its highest dollar volume in a decade, according to ATTOM Data Solutions’ fourth quarter and yearend home-flipping report. The report showed 207,088 single-family houses and condominiums were flipped last year, a 1 percent increase year-over-year. It was the highest total of homes flipped since 2006. The flipped houses represented 5.9 percent of all single-family homes and ...