Bureau Extends Deadline to Apply for Industry Advisory Positions. The CFPB recently extended the application deadline for positions on its Credit Union Advisory Council and Community Bank Advisory Council until March 14, 2014. The bureau said it is looking for experts in consumer financial products or services, as well as experts in consumer protection, community development, consumer finance, fair lending and civil rights. It also wants representatives of banks that primarily serve underserved communities, as well as those from communities that have been significantly affected by higher priced mortgage loans.

“Revenues at some of these firms are going to take a nosedive over the next year or so,” said Anthony Garritano, founder of the Progress in Lending Association, an industry think-tank.

The year’s top five FHA lenders – Wells Fargo, Quicken Loans, JPMorgan Chase, Freedom Mortgage and Bank of America – combined for 21.9 percent, or $46.0 billion, of total agency production, down 34.6 percent quarter over quarter.

Ocwen’s subprime receivables were purchased in the secondary market from other firms trying to exit the space.

HomeStreet might participate in or sponsor non-agency MBS going forward.

In an interview with IMFnews, Habib confirmed his resignation, but declined to say anything further about the company’s future.

The preliminary findings are not pretty: 55 percent of lender/servicers lost money in 4Q compared to just 4 percent for the first nine months of 2013.

After two years of significant improvements, the total past-due rate for subprime mortgages has stalled since the first quarter of 2012. Special servicers continue to grow their subprime holdings in an effort to work out the poorly performing mortgages. The total past-due rate for subprime mortgages at the end of the fourth quarter of 2013 was 20.82 percent, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, up from 20.14 percent in the previous quarter and from 20.30 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012. The past-due rate on subprime mortgages peaked in ... [Includes one data chart]

The Securities and Exchange Commission was set to vote on a final rule earlier this month that would set new disclosure requirements for non-agency MBS, but the agency is still considering how the final rule should be applied as industry participants clamor for further changes. The SEC this week re-opened the comment period regarding the pending requirements for disclosures on MBS and ABS, the so-called Reg. AB2 rule. The rule was first proposed in 2010 and re-proposed in 2011. The comment period on the second proposal closed...

Kara Stein, a commissioner at the Securities and Exchange Commission, said the SEC needs to take action regarding the rating services. It was one of many recent MBS-related calls for action directed at the SEC, from the agency's leadership, Congress and industry analysts. "We need to finally and firmly address the conflicts of interest in asset-backed securitizations and the provision of credit ratings," Stein said in a speech late last week. She noted...