“I don’t think it does a lot of good to play the ‘blame game’ and I don’t think that’s where the solution lies,” said Brian Benson, CEO of ClosingCorp.

According to a transcript of the earnings call, PHH also is contemplating exiting the FHA program.

KBRA noted that this will be the first post-crisis deal to include a significant contribution of mortgages from UBS Bank.

Mortgage broker employment hit a multi-year low of 55,200 jobs in the spring of 2011, but the sector has steadily added workers...

Maybe a "reverse" merger might work for Stonegate Mortgage...

Meanwhile, regional banks appeared to weather the quarter better than other sectors of the mortgage industry…

The Federal Home Loan Bank system earned $484 million in the third quarter of 2015 and attributes the 23 percent year-over-year decrease to net losses on derivatives and hedging activities. But total net income for the first nine months of the year saw a 29 percent jump, to $2.18 billion, according to figures compiled by the system’s Office of Finance. This was driven by higher litigation settlements and net gains on derivatives and hedging activities. After falling flat last quarter, total FHLB assets from the end of June were up at the end of the third quarter by less than 1 percent to $919.6 billion.

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae issued $107.19 billion of single-family MBS last month, a 5.6 percent decline from September’s volume.

A helpful piece of advice: MSA participants should avoid entering into agreements that provide for exclusivity, such as being named a preferred lender.

So, where did all the talk of a possible sale or spin-off come from? Answer: from activist investor Carl Icahn.