The moves are part of a comprehensive plan presented by Thomas O’Brien, Sun Bancorp’s new president and CEO who was brought on board as a consultant in April to restructure the company.

Mortgage brokers who read the guidance said it reveals how little the young regulatory agency understands about the industry. If a broker has the financial ability to obtain a warehouse line of credit...

Surprise: most of the growth by nonbanks has been by smaller mortgage bankers.

One California-based mortgage broker had this to say: “All the CFPBs is doing is driving up costs, further confusing the consumer, and wasting even more tax payer dollars.”

Citigroup also marked down the asset value of its residential mortgage servicing portfolio to $2.282 billion, a 12 percent decline on a sequential basis.

Under the terms of the settlement, Citigroup will pay $4.5 billion in cash and provide $2.5 billion in consumer relief.

Redwood Trust took three months off from issuing jumbo MBS but came back with something of a doozy this week: a $306.05 million deal that will include some loans that don’t meet standards for qualified mortgages and some loans that weren’t subject to third-party due diligence reviews. Sequoia Mortgage Trust 2014-2 is set to receive AAA ratings with credit enhancement of 7.75 percent on the top-rated tranche. While the credit enhancement requirements are somewhat high, a jumbo MBS from Redwood in November had even higher credit enhancement levels, suggesting that the non-QMs and lack of full due diligence aren’t a major concern. Only three of the 438 mortgages to be included in the deal are...

Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’ home retention activity declined for the most part during the first quarter of 2014, according to a new analysis of Federal Housing Finance Agency data by Inside The GSEs.Total loss mitigation activity – total home retention efforts and foreclosure alternatives combined – declined 8.9 percent from the first quarter of the year to 130,854 and was down 28.9 percent from year-ago levels.

Sun Bancorp, a $3.5 billion banking institution in New Jersey, is leaving the retail mortgage banking business and cutting back on direct home-equity lending due to declining profitability and tighter regulation. The moves are part of a comprehensive plan presented by Thomas O’Brien, Sun Bancorp’s new president and chief executive officer, who was brought on board as a consultant in April to restructure the company and ... [Includes one data chart]

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac generated $141.8 billion in single-family mortgage-backed securities during the second quarter of 2014, rebounding from the dismal first three months of the year, according to a new Inside The GSEs analysis. That was up 9.8 percent from the 14-year record low Fannie/Freddie MBS production of just $129.2 billion during the first quarter. However, the April-June cycle generated the second lowest quarterly volume since the end of 2008, and refinance volume continues to reach new lows – falling another 8.5 percent from the previous quarter.