Genworth Financial this week announced some price and underwriting guideline adjustments aimed at reducing the cost of insurance for most mortgages and making the private mortgage insurer more competitive in the marketplace. Effective for applications received on or after May 14, Genworth is reducing monthly and single premium MI rates (borrower paid and lender paid), subject to state approvals. For monthly premium MI, rates are being lowered for all loans with loan-to-value ratios less than or equal to 95 percent. Rates for LTVs above 95 percent will remain the same, the company said, although new adjustments for...

Private mortgage insurers appear to be holding on to the gains in market share they began to accumulate in the middle of last year, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis. An estimated $108.61 billion of home mortgages originated in the first quarter of this year carried primary mortgage insurance, an increase of 9.4 percent from the previous quarter. That compared to a 3.8 percent drop in total single-family mortgage originations over that period. The apparent jump in primary MI market penetration to 28.2 percent is skewed somewhat by the process for...(Includes two data charts)

Private MI officials say FHA pricing changes have helped the industry regain some market share from the agency, but future gains may depend on how the federal government eventually changes its role in the mortgage market. After its most recent pricing adjustment in April of this year, the FHA does not expect to make further changes in its insurance premiums, said Charles Coulter, deputy assistant secretary at the FHA, during this week’s secondary market conference sponsored by the Mortgage Bankers Association. “We are an average pricer, and that alone creates opportunities” for private MIs, he said...

A survey finds that more lenders are mulling a change to their loan origination system. The percentage of mortgage lenders considering changing their current loan origination system (LOS) in the next 12 months has increased to 18.7 percent in 2012 from 17.75 percent last year, according to QuestSoft, a provider of lender compliance software. According to QuestSoft’s latest survey of 461 lenders nationwide, nearly one in five mortgage lenders is seeking new LOS, which is the highest percentage looking to switch in the six years QuestSoft has been conducting the annual survey. Since the survey...

Ally Financial announced a deadline for borrowers seeking a modification under the $25 billion multistate servicing settlement finalized in February. In a financial filing last week, Ally wrote, “We are committed to providing loan modifications to all eligible borrowers who accept a modification offer within three months of the solicitation. We have also agreed to provide loan modifications to borrowers who accept a modification offer within six months of the solicitation, unless and until total borrower relief provided exceeds $250 million.” Of the five banks in the settlement, Ally is on the...

Use of Blueberry Systems’ loan origination technology, RELAY, would result in an incremental reduction in lenders’ origination cost of $287.50 per mortgage loan, an analysis of the system concluded. Deployment of the RELAY loan origination system (LOS) would show a phased increase in return-on-investment in technology in which a lender effectively captures 35 percent of the potential cost benefit in the first year after implementation, according to an independent audit performed by MarketWise Advisors. The audit evaluated the effects of the implementation of the RELAY LOS to the work flow and...

Total fair housing complaints continued to decrease in 2011 from their 20-year peak in 2008, said the National Fair Housing Alliance in an annual report of housing trends, though the group seeks clarification on a number of still-pending regulations. Private fair housing groups, like the NFHA, investigated 65 percent of the 27,092 housing discrimination cases in 2011. Disability and race made up the bulk of complaints. Local statutes prohibiting housing discrimination classes not recognized by federal law, including age, sexual orientation and marital status as the bases for complaints. Most of the complaints...

Bulk warehouse retailer Costco has added another item to its long list of consumer products: mortgages. Following a one-year pilot program, Costco of Issaquah, WA, has partnered with nearly a dozen mortgage lenders across the country to offer purchase and refinance loan products to the store’s U.S.-based members. The affinity marketing arrangement is not just pure marketing of mortgages but also aimed at ensuring that Costco’s members get the full value of their membership through high-quality service and savings, according to Jay Smith, the company’s director of marketing. Costco is no stranger to the...

Nearly half of the 56 banks reported that they offer “nontraditional” home mortgages, such as interest-only loans. Virtually all banks say their lending standards for Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac loans, as measured by credit score and loan-to-value ratio, have tightened since 2006. Key factors include difficulty in getting mortgage insurance, repurchase risk and, to a lesser extent, higher servicing costs for delinquent loans. Most banks don’t see new treatment of mortgage servicing rights under Basel III as a major deterrent to staying in the mortgage business. Increasing compliance burden is a bigger...

Mortgage lenders that were less than enthusiastic about the first version of the refinance program for underwater Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac borrowers now see the revised initiative as a significant opportunity for 2012 and beyond. A recent Federal Reserve survey of senior loan officers revealed that 39 percent of large banks have begun actively soliciting Home Affordable Refinance Program business, although participation rates are lower among smaller institutions. Officials from M&T Bank and SunTrust Mortgage said during a recent webinar sponsored by Inside Mortgage Finance Publications that they...