Most participants on the Federal Open Market Committee anticipate an increase in interest rates sometime later this year, and not delaying until 2016, the FOMC indicated after its two-day meeting concluded Wednesday afternoon. Meanwhile, the Fed’s support of the housing market through reinvesting in MBS continues as it has, with no change in the U.S. central bank’s thinking when it comes to the management of its balance sheet. “The committee reaffirmed...

Correspondent originators continued to produce significantly more purchase mortgages as a share of their total production than brokers or retail lenders, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of loans securitized by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae during the first quarter of 2015. Some 55.9 percent of correspondent originations were purchase loans, compared to just 36.5 percent for retail production and 35.1 percent for ... [Includes one data chart]

A ruling late last week by the New York Court of Appeals will likely help provide certainty to non-agency MBS issuers regarding liability from breaches of representations and warranties while limiting claims from investors. The appeals court confirmed a lower court’s ruling in ACE Securities v. DB Structured Products, determining that the statute of limitations for claims of breaches of representations and warranties starts when a deal is closed – not when a potential breach is discovered. “Representations and warranties concern...

There was widespread expectation that the latest round of seller-friendly changes to the government-sponsored enterprises’ representation-and-warranty framework would encourage lenders to liberalize their credit overlays. So far in 2015, the data aren’t showing it. In fact, the case could be made that credit trends are going the other way. The average credit score for purchase mortgages securitized by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was...[Includes one data table]

There is a surprising number of smaller mortgage lenders who think they can comply with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s pending integrated-disclosure rule with a substantial amount of manual practices and processes – as opposed to technological automation – and they may well be in for a rude awakening when the new rule kicks in. According to Rod Alba, senior regulatory counsel at the American Bankers Association, approximately one quarter of ...

The guidance explains how the FHA intends to categorize defects found in endorsed single-family mortgages.

Lenders are increasingly interested in outsourcing portions of the mortgage origination process, according to a new survey by the Stratmor Group. Industry analysts note that while outsourcing can help reduce costs, there are also risks, particularly for lenders considering outsourcing the entire origination process. Stratmor, a consulting firm that focuses on mortgage profitability, found that the majority of lenders are more interested in outsourcing loan production ...

Acquiescing to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac repurchase and make-whole demands, the big bank aggregators were more concerned about preserving their business relationship with the government-sponsored enterprises than questioning GSEs’ claims, according to compliance experts. “Indeed, it is often plainly apparent the aggregators have done nothing at all to investigate or research, much less defend against, the demands made on them by ...

Wells Fargo was the top conforming-jumbo lender in the first quarter of 2015, with $3.10 billion in such originations.

If you are advertising or marketing mortgage products in Spanish, compliance experts suggest you should provide all requisite disclosures and servicing in Spanish.