Mortgage compliance experts say there’s still a strong need for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to provide more guidance about acceptable business relations under Section 8 of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. One of the issues that came to the fore in the bureau’s enforcement action against PHH Mortgage was lenders’ relationships under marketing services agreements. Even though banks these days may be using MSAs to a lesser extent than nonbanks, there is still a need for the CFPB to more clearly delineate do’s and don’ts. “On the lender side of the mortgage industry, there is...

RPM Mortgage, Alamo, CA, is in serious negotiations to buy at least two other mortgage banking firms – or their assets – and has its eye on at least one other shop, according to investment banking officials who claim to have knowledge of the situation. If the acquisitions come to fruition, they could put the privately held nonbank on track to be a $14 billion a year originator, said a source who advises the company. One of the target acquisitions is a $4 billion a year lender, the other a $650 million funder. A spokesman for RPM declined to comment. A few weeks back, RPM made...

Banks and nonbanks alike are expected to unveil sizable mark-ups on the asset value of their mortgage servicing rights for the fourth quarter, with the general consensus being that increases will range from 20 to 25 basis points. One servicing advisor, requesting his name not be used, said he has some clients that will book gains of 30 to 35 bps, though he indicated this won’t be the norm. “In general, it’s going to be a huge move,” he said. This source made...

Any pushback against the FHA’s 25 basis-point cut in the annual mortgage insurance premium remains to be seen despite grumblings from Capitol Hill, said stakeholders and industry analysts. Earlier this week, the outgoing leadership of the Department of Housing and Urban Development surprised the industry by reducing the annual MIP for 30-year FHA mortgages by 25 bps, and eliminated the higher MIP for loans exceeding $625,500. There are...[Includes one data table]

According to exclusive survey figures from Inside Mortgage Finance, the wholesale/broker market share increased to 10.2 percent in the third quarter, its highest reading of the year.

“No matter what, it’s an enormous move,” said Mark Garland, president of MountainView Servicing Group, Denver.

The new FHFA IG report is heavily redacted…

Lenders delivered $68.26 billion of single-family loans with private mortgage insurance coverage, including modified loans, into Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage-backed securities during the fourth quarter of 2016, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis and ranking. Fourth-quarter private MI activity for the two government-sponsored enterprises was down 10.1 percent from the previous quarter. Overall, Fannie/Freddie single-family MBS production was up 5.7 percent in the fourth quarter. The drop in MI-insured business at the two GSEs tracked...[Includes two data tables]

The GSE figures suggest that private MIs saw a measurable drop in new insurance written in the final three months of 2016, but ended the year with a significant increase in volume compared to 2015.

Buyers and sellers are waiting to see if the 75 basis point increase in rates will stick around or turn out to be a fluke and then reverse course...