According to figures compiled by Inside Mortgage Finance, Provident ranks eighth nationwide among all table-funders, based on first quarter 2015 production.

Most of the changes are in the portion earmarked for direct endorsement lenders, which often have been the target of False Claims Act lawsuits filed by the Department of Justice...

“These are serious loan officers,” he noted. Just how serious? According to the show’s website, some of the top producing LOs in attendance earn between $500,000 and $5 million…

Originations of jumbo mortgages continued strong in the first quarter of 2015, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. An estimated $70.0 billion in jumbos was originated during the quarter, up 59.1 percent compared with the first quarter of 2014. A number of jumbo lenders more than doubled their production during that time. “Our jumbo pipelines are near record high, as the demand for jumbo mortgages remains healthy,” said ... [Includes one data chart]

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is making plans for how to increase the baseline conforming loan limit beyond $417,000 as home prices are close to recovering from the financial crisis. The FHFA last week announced that it will use the “expanded data” house price index that the agency has published since 2011 to make adjustments to the baseline conforming loan limit. A change to the baseline limit would also impact limits for high-cost areas, which are allowed to be ...

Real estate investment trusts and new investors in the mortgage business could provide funding for nonconforming lending, but securitization remains challenged, according to various experts at the recent secondary market conference sponsored by the Mortgage Bankers Association. The non-agency mortgage-backed securities market is very subdued, said Laurie Goodman, director of the Housing Finance Policy Center at the Urban Institute. Issuance has been running at about ...

Since the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s ability-to-repay rule was implemented in January 2014, bank mortgage operations have grown as a whole, according to a new analysis of call-report data by Inside Nonconforming Markets. Retail originations, mortgage banking income and portfolio holdings at banks and thrifts have all increased since the first quarter of 2014, suggesting the ATR rule has done little to crimp mortgage activity by banks. Banks had $93.06 billion in retail originations ...

The strong performance of jumbo mortgages originated in recent years is due to more than just focusing on borrowers with healthy credit scores, loan-to-value ratios and debt-to-income ratios, according to Moody’s Investors Service. The analysts said “soft” qualitative underwriting factors play a major role in jumbo performance. Qualitative factors considered by jumbo lenders include the absence of negative events in a borrower’s credit history, the number of unblemished lines of credit and ...

JPMorgan Chase and Credit Suisse are coming to market with separate jumbo mortgage-backed securities that have some sharp differences in terms of collateral. The $379.78 million JPMorgan Mortgage Trust 2015-3 includes some unique characteristics such as a handful of loans with combined loan-to-value ratios above 80.0 percent and some interest-only mortgages. While the average combined LTV ratio for mortgages to be included in the deal is 69.9 percent, 15 mortgages ...

A broad regulatory relief bill pushed by Sen. Richard Shelby, R-AL, passed the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs last week on a 12-10 party-line vote. While Democrats oppose portions of the bill, they are seeking changes to standards for qualified mortgages similar to those proposed by Shelby. The Financial Regulatory Improvement Act of 2015 would establish a qualified-mortgage safe harbor for certain loans held in portfolio. The main difference between ...