The average mortgage banking firm saw a decline in net income during the fourth quarter of 2014, but the industry ended 2014 in much better shape than it started the year, according to data reported by the Mortgage Bankers Association. The average firm participating in the MBA’s Quarterly Mortgage Bankers Performance Report earned $901,000 in pretax income during the fourth quarter. That was off 36.9 percent from the third quarter, and it brought total income for 2014 to ...

Banks and thrifts reported a 10.3 percent increase in mortgage repurchases and indemnifications during the fourth quarter of 2014 compared with the previous quarter, according to an Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of call-report data. Despite the late-year uptick, 2014 still ranked as the most benign for the industry since banks began reporting repurchases in 2008. Institutions repurchased or made indemnifications totaling just $4.25 billion ... [Includes one data chart]

Repurchase requests on new production are few and far between, according to the government-sponsored enterprises. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac both recently issued reviews of their quality control processes, noting that lenders have plenty of tools to help ensure loan quality and avoid buybacks. Carlos Perez, a senior vice president and chief credit officer for single-family business at Fannie, said that as of the end of 2014, 0.33 percent of the single-family ...

Although JPMorgan Chase recently inked a deal to buy $45 billion of Fannie Mae mortgage servicing rights from Ocwen Financial, the bank plans to keep shedding receivables, at least over the short term. In particular, according to interviews with deal makers and analysts, Chase could see its “servicing for others” portfolio fall to $600 billion from $800 billion over the next few years before it begins rising again. “These reductions will come in the form of runoff and ...

New Residential Investment plans to complete an asset purchase with Home Loan Servicing Solutions instead of a merger, the firms announced this week. New Residential agreed to pay HLSS $1.4 billion, largely in cash. The sale substantially mitigates servicer advance funding risk, according to industry analysts. The firms said New Residential acquired substantially all of the assets of HLSS and assumed substantially all of HLSS’ liabilities ...

As a new day of mortgage disclosure practices nears, courtesy of the integrated disclosure rule from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a strong supporter of eClosings and eMortgages – Fannie Mae – is extending the concept. The government-sponsored enterprise is working on eWarehouse lending in conjunction with eNotes. First, the borrower executes the eNote on a digital closing platform. “The closing system applies a tamper-evident seal to the eNote,” Fannie said ...

Broker originations delivered to the GSEs increased by 16.0 percent in the first quarter of 2015 compared with the previous quarter, the biggest gain among the three production channels.

Some 32 percent of first-time homebuyers said that referrals from friends, family or co-workers had a major influence on their choice of lender, compared with only 18 percent of repeat homebuyers.

The GSEs aren’t completely committed to adopting new credit scoring models just yet, but it is on their radar. When asked about the possibility of alternative credit scoring, spokesmen for both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pointed to the 2015 Conservatorship Scorecard which stated that they will be assessing the feasibility of alternate credit score models and credit history in loan-decision models. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro, who spoke at a credit access symposium in Washington last week, said that the FHA is exploring new ways to determine the creditworthiness of consumers to increase access to mortgage lending. Housing industry leaders in attendance said Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and other mortgage lenders could increase access....

Although the Federal Housing Finance Agency has upped its efforts to promote diversity and inclusion in the workforce in 2014, the agency said challenges remain as some racial and ethnic groups are still underrepresented, according to a March 31 report to Congress by FHFA’s Office of Minority and Women Inclusion. Because of the Dodd-Frank Act requirements, there has been considerable increases in racial, ethnic and gender diversity of FHFA’s executive leadership team since the agency first began reporting to Congress in 2011. Even though the number of FHFA executives has declined by 13.5 percent in the past three years, minorities comprised 23.5 percent, compared to 10.1 percent in 2011, and women comprised 33.3 percent, compared to 25.4 percent.