The fixed-rate mortgage accounts for nine of every 10 loans originated, and it’s easy to see why. Locking into historically low rates makes a lot of financial sense. So who is choosing to buy volatility instead? Who are the 10 percent who still borrow adjustable-rate mortgages? “For some consumers, it’s a better product,” said Frank Nothaft, chief economist at Freddie Mac. “If, for some reason, you know you’ll be leaving your home soon, a 5/1 hybrid ARM is a very fitting instrument. Choosing an ARM could be a matter of timing.” The hybrid ARM is the most common adjustable-rate product...

Radian Guaranty has integrated with LoanSifter, a mortgage technology provider, to bring its mortgage insurance products and pricing “in front of loan officers.” The partnership is the first of its kind for Radian, allowing the company to be competitive at the point of sale rather than wait for customers to come and access its website for product and pricing data. Used by many loan officers, LoanSifter is a loan eligibility and pricing engine and automated underwriting system that collects and maintains pricing and underwriting guidelines from hundreds of investors. Pricing data and guidelines may be from any...

More than 40 percent of mortgage industry quality control problems occur because of missing documentation and questionable data integrity. According to Interthinx, a risk mitigation solutions company, 40.9 percent of issues that plague quality control were related to missing docs and data integrity in 2011. This is a stark departure from years past. Missing documentation, for instance, accounted for only 7.1 percent of problems from 2006 to 2009. During those years, eligibility and credit issues were more of an industry scourge. In 2011, tougher underwriting standards have brought that...

Originations of 1-4 family residential mortgages rose by a substantial 19.4 percent at the end of last year, but 2011 still ranked as the worst year for new production activity since year 2000. Mortgage lenders produced an estimated $1.35 trillion of home loans last year, down 17.2 percent from the total in 2010, according to Inside Mortgage Finance. Production hit a low spot during the second quarter, when just $280.0 billion in new mortgages were originated – the weakest quarter since financial markets seized up at the end of 2008. New record lows in mortgage interest...(Includes two data charts)

President Obama used his State of the Union address this week to announce a new federal-state law enforcement project aimed at mortgage origination and securitization practices and to propose a broad federal refinance program for performing underwater non-agency mortgages that would be funded with fees imposed on banks. Most observers say the refi proposal stands little chance in Congress and is mostly a campaign tool aimed at banks and the track record of Republican lawmakers. “I’m sending this Congress a plan that gives every responsible homeowner the chance to save about $3,000 a...

The never-ending board game over mortgage foreclosure processing errors flailed through another week of meetings between state attorneys general, top lenders and federal officials that were so “informal” many didn’t confirm that they were in attendance. A leaked copy of a new draft settlement indicates that the latest offer on the table includes $17 billion in principal reductions and a $5 billion reserve account for state and federal programs. According to the Associated Press, some of that account would pay for $1,800 checks to homeowners affected by banks’ deceptive practices. Another $3...

Richard Cordray, the new director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, this week parried with a key House Republican over disclosure of the agency’s regulatory agenda, a lengthy to-do list that was virtually dictated by Congress in the Dodd-Frank Act. “Since the onset of the financial crisis, members of Congress have heard from businesses of all sizes that markets ... need certainty. In this regard, the CFPB has failed the test,” said Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-NC, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on TARP, Financial Services and Bailouts of Public and Private...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development rejected a number of industry recommendations to ease the impact of new lender indemnification regulations. The final rule imposes indemnification provisions on all FHA lenders with Lender Insurance authority and revises the methods determining an acceptable claim and default rate. It also amends the two-year performance requirements for considering mortgagees for Lender Insurance (LI) authority in connection with a merger, acquisition or reorganization. The primary change under the new rule is that all direct endorsement lenders with LI authority...

The transition to a housing market not completely dominated by agency financing will result in higher costs for borrowers, according to some industry participants at the American Securitization Forum annual conference held this week in Las Vegas. Even proposed risk sharing between non-agency mortgage-backed security investors and the government-sponsored enterprises is cause for concern.“I just don’t see it working all that well,” said Garry Cipponeri, a senior vice president and director of capital markets at Chase Mortgage Banking. He suggested that risk sharing could ultimately...

With a price tag of $100 billion required to forgive the principal of underwater Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgages, the best bet for the government-sponsored enterprises and for taxpayers is for the GSEs to pursue a policy of principal forbearance, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said. This week, the FHFA released its analysis conducted in 2010 following numerous requests and an eventual threat of subpoena by House Democrats. The agency’s number crunchers found that “principal reduction never serves the long-term interest of the taxpayer when compared to foreclosure.” As of June 30, 2011, Fannie and Freddie...