As feared by the residential finance industry, an increase in upfront mortgage insurance premiums is hurting participation in the FHA program by first-time buyers.

The CFPB, HUD and the Department of Justice have all gone on record asserting that disparate impact claims are viable under the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.

On a combined basis, the nine lender/servicers tracked by Inside Mortgage Trends generated $243 billion in single-family mortgages during the second quarter, a little less than half the entire market.

The mortgage M&A market is beginning to heat up. Flagstar has auctioned off two large MSR packages, and LoanDepot is merging with another firm.

With Fannie lowering its LTV maximum it will reduce the pool of eligible GSE borrowers and likely shift those loans over to FHA, which means private mortgage insurance firms will lose business.

Cerberus Capital is contemplating purchasing additional mortgage banking firms. Meanwhile, the CFPB doesn't like what it sees in the servicing space when it comes to customer service.

“Three years appears to be an inordinately long period to fully implement the advisory bulletin,” writes the IG of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Mortgage brokers are continuing to lose market share, but the decline could be temporary, especially if the megabanks run out of refis.

Currently, FHA requires a waiting period of two years in bankruptcy cases and three years after a foreclosure or short sale before a borrower can apply for an FHA loan.

With the retreat of banks from the non-prime lending space, Springleaf says it is strategically positioned to grow in the years ahead.