A significant percentage of mortgage industry professionals think President Obama’s estimate that 250,000 borrowers will benefit from the FHA annual premium reduction is “too high” and that the impact will be minimal, according a new survey by the Collingwood Group. The monthly survey said 47 percent thought the estimate is too high and the price cut is not enough to generate a substantial number of new homeowners given that credit standards remain tight. They also said that the 50 basis point reduction in the annual premium is insufficient to make financing affordable. Meanwhile, 34 percent thought...

FHFA chief Mel Watt noted: “In Treasury’s view, it’s a legislative decision” to change the terms of the bailout agreement.

G-fees range from 50 to 55 basis points. Prior to the housing bust, some seller/servicers had g-fee payments as low as 12 basis points.

The Mortgage Choice Act was passed by the GOP-held House in June, but failed to move through the Democrat-controlled Senate.

Ruth Lee, executive vice president of TCS, expects a big year in the scratch-and-dent market, thanks to the GSEs.

Prospect Mortgage is the top contributor with a 9.1 percent share, followed by Ditech Mortgage (8.6 percent) and Skyline Financial (7.1 percent). All three are nonbanks.

Roughly $164.77 billion of securities backed by commercial mortgages were issued last year, down just 0.6 percent from 2013, which was a banner year.

The repo is contingent upon PennyMac – a publicly traded REIT – maintaining minimum tangible net worth of $860 million and minimum unrestricted cash of $40 million.

The firm noted that employment and income fraud peaked in the fourth quarter of 2013 and has declined ever since.

In some cases, loan officers who work for net branch operators can earn 225 to 250 bps per deal.