The most significant bill up for debate Wednesday is the Portfolio Lending and Mortgage Access Act, introduced by Rep. Andy Barr, R-KY, which would deem all loans held in portfolio to be qualified mortgages under the CFPB’s ability-to-repay rule.

FHFA chief Mel Watt said he would not “elaborate on these issues today,” but promised “you will certainly be hearing more about this as we move forward.”

Radian will be finance the purchase through the issuance of debt. In 2013, Clayton had annual revenue of $135 million and net income of $9.1 million.

One of PHH’s largest private label clients is Merrill Lynch, which is owned by Bank of America.

“We’re well into this year’s home-buying season and too many potential buyers and sellers are sitting on the sidelines because they’re afraid they can’t qualify for a home loan before they’ve looked into it,” said loanDepot's Dave Norris.

Before joining the FHFA in late 2011, Hornsby spent 26 years at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, the last 10 under Janet Yellen, who is now the nation’s central banker.

Sixth-ranked Freedom Mortgage Corp. bucked the overall trend with a 19 percent increase in TPO deliveries to the agencies.

Redwood Trust officials said its next jumbo MBS likely will be issued late in the second quarter.

“They’re either going to shut their doors, merge or sell out to someone else,” one M&A advisor told Inside Mortgage Finance. “We could see 2,000 firms disappear.”

Of late, nonbanks are showing an increasing interest in buying delinquent loans out of Ginnie Mae pools.