In other mortgage-stock news, Ellie Mae Co-founder, Chairman and CEO Sig Anderman has been exercising stock options of late, and selling shares in the company.

Jumbos for borrowers with strong credit profiles present banks with limited risks – particularly adjustable-rate mortgages – and the loans offer lucrative opportunities to cross-sell other products.

Others believe thesecases could have a chilling effect on FHA lending to the detriment of first-time homebuyers and borrowers with insufficient cash for a downpayment.

On Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgages with private mortgage insurance, average closing times declined to 42.5 days from 46.0 days.

On the non-QM front, Bayview will go as high as $1.5 million, but the loan-to-value ratio is capped at 80 percent.

Every buyer has a different definition of "reperforming," but generally the loan must be current for at least 12 months.

The Financial Stability Oversight Council of the Treasury Department has its eye on the rapidly growing market presence of nonbank servicers such as Ocwen, Nationstar Mortgage and Walter Investment Management.

Last week, the CFPB ordered GE Capital Retail Bank – a financial institution in New Jersey now known as Synchrony Bank – to provide approximately $225 million in relief to consumers harmed by alleged illegal and discriminatory credit card practices. Under the terms of a consent order brought by the bureau, GE Capital is required to refund $56 million to approximately 638,000 consumers who were subjected to allegedly deceptive marketing practices. As part of the joint enforcement action by the CFPB and Department of Justice, GE Capital must also provide an additional $169 million to about 108,000 borrowers excluded from debt relief offers because of their national origin. The consent order represents the federal government’s largest credit card discrimination settlement in history...

SunTrust Mortgage, based in Richmond, VA, agreed to pay a total of $968 million to settle allegations of origination and servicing wrongdoing under a consent order brought by the CFPB. The Department of Justice, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and state attorneys general from 49 states and the District of Columbia joined in the settlement, which stemmed from the National Mortgage Servicing Settlement. The company will provide $500 million in loss-mitigation relief to underwater borrowers. The order also will require SunTrust to pay $40 million to approximately 48,000 consumers who lost their homes to foreclosure, and $10 million to cover losses it caused to the FHA, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Rural Housing Service. The order...

The CFPB recently ordered a New Jersey company, Stonebridge Title Services Inc., to pay a $30,000 civil penalty to the bureau for allegedly paying illegal kickbacks for referrals. According to the CFPB, Stonebridge paid commissions to more than 20 independent sales representatives who referred title insurance business to Stonebridge. Stonebridge solicited people to provide it with referrals of title insurance business, offering to pay commissions of up to 40 percent of the title insurance premiums Stonebridge itself received, the bureau alleged. “These practices violated Section 8 of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, which prohibits kickbacks and payment of unearned fees in the context of residential real estate transactions,” the CFPB said. Paying commissions for referrals is allowed under RESPA ...