Real Estate Mortgage Network is on the verge of launching a new correspondent division what will use the trade name HomeBridge, a company official told Inside Mortgage Finance.

During the final three months of 2012, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac securitized some $52.72 billion of single-family home loans that were covered by private mortgage insurance, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis.

Trade groups that represent loan brokers are still analyzing the details of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s 500-plus page loan originator compensation rule, but at first glance officials are lukewarm on what they see.

Redwood Trust is set to issue its second non-agency jumbo MBS of the year, a $666.13 million security, according to a presale report released today by Kroll Bond Rating Agency. The MBS will largely consist of 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, with 51.4 percent of the originations from First Republic Bank. Plus other mortgage news briefs.

Fannie Mae is ending the practice of assigning different guaranty-fee discounts to the various “affinity groups” or cooperatives that pool mortgages for sale into the secondary market, Inside Mortgage Finance has learned.

With the rules for nonprime lending established – for the most part – under the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s recently finalized ability-to-repay requirements, at least four lenders have stepped up their plans to enter the nonprime origination market, a business that has been long dormant with certain exceptions.

Bank of America, which is in the process of selling roughly $308 billion worth of mortgage servicing rights, recently trimmed its servicing staff by at least 700 workers...

After including a significant amount of ARMs in its first issuance of the year, the second non-agency jumbo mortgage-backed security of 2013 from Redwood Trust will consist largely of 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, according to a new presale report released by Kroll Bond Rating Agency.

Mortgage banking income increased at a faster rate than did secondary market sales during the third quarter of 2012. Huge gain-on-sale margins pushed the industry to its most profitable quarter, according to an analysis of call report numbers by Inside Mortgage Trends.

Envoy Mortgage, a privately held nonbank, is the latest lender to jump into the correspondent lending arena. On Wednesday the firm issued a statement saying it has hired two industry veterans – Dan Hastings and Todd Cheney – to build and run the new division. Formed in 1997, Envoy has been a retail-only lender funding in 48 states… Plus other mortgage news briefs.