FHA chief Carol Galante reminded lenders that mortgage premium increases – five hikes from 2008 to 2013 – were necessary to protect the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund and properly price for the risk the government insurer was taking on.

Currently, MSRs can only account for 10 percent of Tier I capital, but MBA thinks it should be raised to at least 25 percent for banks, and 50 percent for thrifts and savings and loans.

Roughly 2 percent of depositories said they will cease offering mortgages altogether because of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s ability to repay rule and QM standards.

The biggest decline in MI-insured business was in underwater mortgages that were refinanced while keeping their existing coverage under the Home Affordable Refinance Program.

The chairman and CEO of CapWealth Advisors – a private equity firm with stakes in the GSEs – was critical of all the housing reform bills introduced so far and the premise that Fannie and Freddie need to be wound down to affect reform.

Since late last year, the FHFA has decreed that it must approve any GSE servicing sale of 25,000 loans or more, which translates into roughly $5 billion of product.

Will the Ocwen-Wells MSR deal ever get approved? In time, but...

“A few groups have taken a walk through the offices in Cherry Hill,” said a source close to PHH. “People are starting to notice – and leave.”

Another suggestion is to increase the $100,000 threshold for “smaller loans” to $200,000 allowing for mortgage amounts beneath that level to be subject to more workable points-and-fees limits.

The terms of the MBS settlement are subject to approval by the Federal Housing Finance Agency due to Freddie Mac’s involvement.