Mortgage brokers and correspondents helped fuel the surge in agency mortgage-backed securities issuance during the third quarter of 2014, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of loan-level MBS data. Correspondents originated 35.0 percent of the loans securitized by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae during the third quarter, up slightly from the first two quarters of the year. Likewise, the share of broker originations edged up to 11.3 percent in the most recent three-month period.Wells Fargo ranked as the biggest seller of third-party originations during the first nine months of the year. The company pulled out of the broker market, although a few such loans trickled into agency MBS this year, but correspondents accounted ...

The biggest decline has been in non-agency MBS holdings, mostly Alt A and subprime MBS that have been subject to fast liquidation rates.

In fact, it was the highest quarterly volume in new flow business for the MI sector since the second quarter of 2008.

In the retail channel, LoanDepot ranks fifth among all nonbanks, a figure that excludes what Mortgage Master brings to the table.

The new documentation was released in conjunction with a non-agency RMBS reform symposium held in New York by SFIG and Information Management Network.

“Banks of all sizes are having problems with the new limits,” the three trade groups argue.

Wells Fargo estimates that a settlement could cost the bank at least $950 million.

We should point out that even though LoanDepot is doing the buying, the Mortgage Master brand name will survive. LD did the same thing when it combined forces with imortgage last year…

Private mortgage insurers reported hefty increases in the volume of new insurance written during the third quarter of 2014, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance ranking and analysis. The seven active private MIs wrote primary insurance coverage on $53.95 billion of new mortgage originations during the third quarter, a gain of 22.8 percent from the previous period. On a year-to-date basis, total new primary insurance by the MIs was still down 22.4 percent from the first nine months of last year, mostly because activity in the Home Affordable Refinance Program has declined sharply. HARP accounted...[Includes three data charts]

Wells Fargo is in discussions with the Department of Justice about a possible resolution of alleged improper origination and servicing of FHA loans that resulted in huge paid claims and significant losses to the agency’s Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund. The ongoing talks are related to a complaint filed by the government in federal district court in Manhattan on Oct. 9, 2012, alleging, among other things, that Wells Fargo improperly certified FHA mortgages between 2001 and 2010 for insurance even though it knew the underwriting was flawed. The complaint said that the bank’s insurance claims should not have been paid when some of the loans later defaulted. It further alleged that Wells Fargo did not disclose the loans’ deficiencies to the FHA before making insurance claims. On Dec. 1, 2012, Wells Fargo filed...