The Office of the Wisconsin Insurance Commissioner has launched a preliminary investigation into lender-paid mortgage insurance, a revelation that is causing additional unease at private MIs. Sources confirmed to Inside Mortgage Finance this week that insurance regulators in the state are looking at what one official called discounting “practices” for the product. He added: “Wisconsin is asking them to name names: ‘Who are you giving discounts to, on what basis, etc.” This official, who did not want to go on the record regarding the matter, said...

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau threw the book at PHH Corp. over its captive reinsurance activities, refuting a handful of court rulings, an administrative letter from the Department of Housing and Urban Development and several points made by an administrative law judge. CFPB Director Richard Cordray overrode a $6.4 million penalty set by an ALJ in the matter and ordered PHH to pay $109.2 million – all the mortgage insurance premiums it received from its captive reinsurer, Atrium, after July 2008, regardless of when the loan was originated. July 2008 was...

Americans were too busy refinancing and shoveling snow to get new home-equity loans during the first quarter of 2015, a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis reveals. Mortgage lenders did an estimated $19.5 billion of home-equity lending during the first three months of 2015, based on new commitments for home-equity lines of credit – by far the most active part of the HEL market – plus originations of closed-end seconds. That was down 7.1 percent from the fourth quarter of last year. Despite the slowdown in the first quarter, home-equity production was...[Includes three data tables]

The six, including Sen. Mark Warner, D-VA, and Mike Crapo, R-ID, are seeking additional information on such things as the role mortgage insurers play in credit risk...

One problem with the (latest) refi boom ending is that some loan officers working at net branches start getting nervous and begin seeking better product menus elsewhere...

Fitch noted that a transaction manager’s compensation agreement will be important in determining any benefit...

When asked why he thought non-QM lending has been so weak he said, “The consumer is resistant to the pricing.”

CFPB Director Richard Cordray overrode a $6.4 million penalty set by an ALJ in the matter and ordered PHH to pay $109.2 million...

Banks, thrifts and credit unions reported a slight uptick in the amount of unused HELOC commitments compared to the end of last year.

One source said Nomura also was providing warehouse credit to Angel Oak.