BOK Financial is jumping into the online mortgage origination channel with the launch of HomeDirect Mortgage to serve consumers who are increasingly going to the Internet to shop for mortgages. The Tulsa-based company said the new channel complements BOK’s mortgage operation, which originated an estimated $4 billion in loans through its retail channel in 2012. As a “direct” lender with an automated online application system, HomeDirect is aiming for homebuyers who are computer savvy and searching ...

In the aftermath of the 16-day partial government shutdown, mortgage lenders have decided to continue suspension of the tax transcript requirement for borrower income verification until the Internal Revenue Service has caught up with the backlog of requests for the transcripts. According to lenders, even though normal operations have resumed at federal agencies, the IRS has fallen behind on processing lender requests for the 4506-T Form, which is a borrower’s transcript of tax return provided by the ...

With the era of “easy refinances” in the past, lenders are working to increase their purchase-mortgage originations. Industry consultants suggest focusing on lead-generation and providing value to potential borrowers as opposed to competing with other lenders based solely on interest rates. Garth Graham, head of Stratmor Group’s marketing strategy and execution practice, said lenders should use the leads and data they already have to increase purchase-mortgage originations. He noted that ...

The Federal Housing Finance Agency will make “across the board” reductions to Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s conforming loan limits that affect all markets, but the industry will have ample time to plot necessary course corrections, according to FHFA Acting Director Edward DeMarco. During remarks this week at a conference sponsored by Zillow and the Bipartisan Policy Center, DeMarco said he will announce his loan limit decision in late November – the traditional timing of the announcement.

Countrywide Financial Corp. committed fraud when it sold questionable mortgages to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac prior to the financial crisis, a New York federal jury determined this week. Bank of America acquired CFC in 2008 and is liable for the fraud. The jury also found that Rebecca Mairone, a former chief operating officer for CFC’s subprime division, Full Spectrum, is liable for fraud for her role in leading its “Hustle” loan program, which was designed by Countrywide to speed up approvals for unqualified borrowers.

Although Fannie Mae has been pushing certain thinly capitalized nonbanks to its cash window for loan sales, it also wants to know why others that have the capital – and approvals – aren’t issuing mortgage-backed securities. A Fannie spokesman had this to say on the matter: “If not, why not? Maybe it’s time for us to have a conversation with them.”

Building on both GSEs’ recent risk-sharing transactions to achieve the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s $30 billion 2013 Conservatorship Scorecard target, the head of the FHFA said this week to expect more of the same as well as additional risk-sharing innovations. In a speech at the Bipartisan Policy Center, FHFA Acting Director Edward DeMarco said that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, in concert with the Finance Agency, are “planning for the scope and depth of risk-sharing transactions to continue and expand.”

The Federal Housing Finance Agency should think twice, then disregard any plans to further cut the multifamily business of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to the ranking member of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and GSEs. In a letter to the FHFA earlier this month, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-NY, noted that since the Finance Agency implemented “an arbitrary” 10 percent cut in GSE multifamily business for 2013, “an additional reduction further depresses the housing market nationwide, reduces the availability of rental housing, and actually harms the financial stability” of Fannie and Freddie by limiting proven revenue-generating opportunities.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency moved this week to formalize an anti-fraud initiative it rolled out some 16 months ago that requires Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks to notify the agency forthwith of fraudulent activity by a GSE-associated individual or company. The interim final rule published in the Oct. 23 Federal Register generally codifies the procedures under the FHFA’s existing Suspended Counterparty Program, established in June 2012, with a request for public comment.