The settlement covers damages suffered by Fannie Mae from misrepresentations Lehman was alleged to have made regarding the quality of non-agency product it sold to the GSE.

Rep. Shelly Moore Capito, R-WV, said many credit unions and community banks “feel that they’re not going to be able to have the flexibility to give the farmer, the medical student, the single mother, the ability to get the home because they’re not going to fit into the QM box.”

The fast growing nonbank servicer/lender also disclosed a preliminary fourth quarter profit in the range of $101 million to $106 million, a 50 percent jump from the prior period.

Mortgage topics don’t always make the President’s State of the Union speech, but President Obama Tuesday night may touch on the issue of credit availability and whether the government has “gone too far.”

In fact, 10 of the 17 banks tracked by Inside Mortgage Trends posted increased mortgage-banking income during the final three months of 2013, and all of them reported a positive showing.

By December, FHA financing was used by first-time homebuyers in 39.6 percent of home purchases, based on the three-month moving average.

If Flagstar changes hands, what might become of its loan broker business, the second largest in the nation?

Meanwhile, MountainView Servicing Group is also in the market with a new MSR offering: $224 million of receivables backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac product.

Despite AEI’s findings, delinquencies on GSE loans continue to fall. In December, for example, Freddie’s single-family delinquency rate totaled 2.39 percent compared to 3.25 percent a year earlier.

The cost of mortgage compliance was a topic making the rounds at the recent ABS Vegas show in Nevada. Attendees, of course, wanted to know who might pay for all the new added costs.