Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac securitized $46.91 billion of home loans with private mortgage insurance during the fourth quarter of 2014, down 1.9 percent from the previous quarter, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis. The drop in private MI volume nearly mirrored the 2.1 percent decline in overall mortgage-backed securities production by the two government-sponsored enterprises over the same period. For all of 2014, the volume of private MI loans included in Fannie/Freddie MBS was down 22.5 percent, while total GSE securitization tumbled 45.4 percent from 2013. While MI-insured purchase mortgages declined by 7.0 percent from the third quarter, securitization of refinance loans with private MI jumped...[Includes two data charts]

Almost half of the people buying a home these days do not shop around for their mortgages, according to a report issued this week by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. So to help remedy that, the bureau rolled out an online rate-checker tool – something that immediately set off a firestorm of opposition from mortgage brokers and originators. Rate Checker, part of a broader CFPB initiative called Owning a Home, is intended to help consumers understand what interest rates may be available to them, said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. “It incorporates information from lenders’ internal rate sheets, information they use to calculate what interest rate is available for a particular consumer. In other words, we are giving consumers direct access to the same type of information that the lenders themselves have. “By plugging in their credit score, their location and information about the loan they are seeking, they can see...

The layoffs “were in various departments and locations, but the majority of them were in corporate (administrative) departments at our headquarters,” spokesman for the company told IMFnews.

“We’ve seen a huge uptick in FHA streamlines with everyone waiting to order new case numbers,” said company president Eddy Perez.

The FHFA, so far, has declined to provide a budget figure to the general public.

The biggest decline in MI business during the fourth quarter came in loans refinanced through the Home Affordable Refinance Program.

At yearend, Bank of America serviced $693 billion of home mortgages, a 4 percent decline from Sept. 30.

Marc Savitt, president of the National Association of Independent Housing Professionals, pointed to a flaw in the beta version of Rate Checker: it doesn't show the annual percentage rate.

The positive performance, a drop of 14.5 percent, is most likely due to the continued recovery in the overall economy as well as the housing market.

Meanwhile, JPM marked down the asset value of its residential servicing portfolio to $7.436 billion at Dec. 31, 2014, a 10 percent reduction from 3Q14.