Federal housing regulators and Congress may have relied on inaccurate and outdated data while keeping track of FHA loan defaults and identifying potential risk to the FHA insurance fund, according to a report from the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of the Inspector General. The HUD IG said it initiated an audit after observing delayed reporting of default information on loan histories. The OIG performed the audit between November 2012 and July 2013. HUD did not comment on the report.The department requires lenders to report monthly all loans that are 30 days past due. Prompt and accurate reporting provides ...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has issued a final rule aligning its streamlined reporting requirements for small lenders with those of federal banking regulators. HUD’s regulations currently require all supervised lenders and mortgagees, regardless of their asset size, to submit annual audited financial statements as a condition of FHA lender approval and recertification. Federal banking regulators, on the other hand, do not require their “small supervised lenders” to submit audited financial statements, but allow them to submit unaudited financial regulatory reports. Unaudited financial reports include a ...

Freddie Mac had been lending Fed Funds (overnight loans) to Lehman Brothers since 2005. Then, in 2008, the nature of those loans changed to longer term borrowings.

Lenders such as Bank of America and Quicken are hooked on refis. What might the future hold for these funders as purchase loans begin to dominate?

In less than a month Wells Fargo has unveiled mortgage-related layoffs of 4,100. Some of those receiving pink slips could find other work at the bank.

Wall Street loved the unexpected news from the Fed, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury dropping to its lowest yield in weeks.

Almost 19 percent of the loans in the new Penny Mac jumbo MBS were originated by mortgage brokers.

Wall Street will hit the halls of Congress on the issue of eminent domain. Meanwhile, these lenders are refi-heavy: Wells Fargo, Chase, and Quicken. See our exclusive list.

The decline in refinance mortgage lending that began in early 2013 continued into the third quarter, with refi originations moving to their lowest level in two years. According to a new Inside Mortgage Finance ranking and analysis, refinance mortgage production fell 12.9 percent from the first quarter of 2013 to the second, with an estimated $332.0 billion in new originations for the period. Refinance production has continued to decline since the end of June. Securitization of refinance loans by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae declined...[Includes three data charts]

The rise in interest rates that started in May has yet to have a significant impact on the purchase-mortgage market, according to the Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey. However, analysts say higher interest rates and rising home prices will constrain housing affordability. The non-cash share of home-purchase financing increased for the sixth consecutive month in August to 72.8 percent, based on the three-month moving average. The trend has been driven by a shift from investor purchases of distressed properties to activity among current homeowners and non-distressed properties. The non-distressed market showed...