Roughly 90 percent of the time, residential loan officers never see the end mortgage customer, according to several weeks’ worth of interviews conducted by Inside Mortgage Finance. However, few in the industry think it’s a problem. “We have the technology not to see our applicants,” said Jim Picard, vice president of home loans for Denali Alaskan Federal Credit Union. The technology that Picard and others refer to is...

Investment banking firms that arrange subordinated debt offerings for mortgage originators are expecting a strong year in 2015, thanks in part to the dismal outlook for initial public offerings. “Sub debt is a good way to grow your business without it being dilutive to your company,” said Bill Dallas, CEO and founder of Skyline Lending, a lender that recently completed a $20 million deal with Ellington Financial, a publicly traded mortgage real estate investment trust. “It allows...

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau this week countered mortgage-industry criticism about its recently launched interest-rate checker tool. “The rate checker is an educational tool and is not a substitute for shopping,” a spokesman for the bureau told Inside Mortgage Finance. “One of the findings of our survey was that consumers who said they were very familiar with available interest rates were almost twice as likely to shop, compared to those who were unfamiliar.” Further, before consumers make a final decision about a loan, they should compare...

First-time homebuyers accounted for close to half of all purchase mortgages in the agency market in 2014, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Mortgage Finance. Activity in the sector is also projected to increase, helped by low interest rates, a reduction in FHA premium and the government-sponsored enterprises’ low-downpayment programs. Some $224.35 billion in mortgages to first-time homebuyers were included in agency mortgage-backed securities issued in 2014. The loans accounted for 43.3 percent of all purchase mortgages included in agency MBS during the year. Wells Fargo had...[Includes two data charts]

Other investment bankers who work the MSR market said declining interest rates and the “Ocwen” effect are hurting values.

Trying to handicap a forthcoming ruling from the highest court in the land is notoriously fraught with difficulty and unpredictability, given that the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court have a penchant for playing devil’s advocate on both sides of a legal issue. But comments made this week by one of the conservative justices, Antonin Scalia, during the high court’s consideration of the latest disparate-impact case to reach it made it clear he believes the legal doctrine of disparate impact is a part of the contemporary legal landscape. And that could prove to be pivotal to the ultimate outcome. The central legal question in Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, et al., v. The Inclusive Communities Project Inc. (No. 13-1371) is whether disparate-impact claims are cognizable under the Fair Housing Act of 1968. The state of Texas is challenging...

First Republic Bank is the top contributor to Redwood's new jumbo deal with a 31.7 percent market share.

Sources familiar with the situation said Carroll began spreading the word about his departure last week.

Compass Point Research told clients that the case not only directly affects mortgage originators, but has implications for other lending sectors as well.

Just over $224 billion of mortgages to first-time homebuyers were included in agency MBS issued in 2014, according to figures compiled by IMF.