It appears that Home Loan Servicing Solutions, a buyer of residential servicing rights, is making money hand-over-fist.

The long-awaited slowdown in residential originations may finally be at the doorstep of the nation’s largest banks, according to first-quarter results released over the past week by the “giants” of the industry including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and U.S. Bancorp. In general, gain-on-sale margins eroded or held steady, but most megabanks hiked the asset value of their mortgage servicing rights. And some, like Wells and U.S. Bancorp, continued to hold some of their agency-eligible mortgage originations on their books instead of selling them to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. “Revenues have peaked for everyone,” Brian Foran, an analyst with Autonomous, told...

The Federal Housing Administration recently auctioned off $2.2 billion of nonperforming mortgages, getting about 45 cents on the dollar.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau last week issued a small-entity compliance guide on its groundbreaking ability-to-repay rule promulgated in January. It’s a document that may help smaller firms but leaves big players wanting more. “Our goal with this guide is to provide a comprehensive rule summary in a plain language and Frequently Asked Questions format, which makes the content more accessible and consumable for a broad array of industry constituents, especially smaller businesses with limited legal and compliance staff,” the CFPB said. The bureau recommended...

Democrats in Congress are putting pressure on federal regulators to increase oversight of servicers due to problems with independent foreclosure reviews and the $25.0 billion national servicing settlement. The regulators have pushed back to some extent while indicating that servicers will be subject to tighter oversight going forward. In 2011, consent orders from the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency required independent foreclosure reviews to be completed by 14 servicers with the help of consultants. In January, most of the servicers agreed to stop the reviews and alternatively provide $8.5 billion in relief to borrowers. The regulators acknowledged...

No one is suggesting that Wells Fargo will begin lopping off large chunks of its $1.9 trillion residential servicing portfolio in a fashion similar to what Bank of America has done the past two years, but clearly selling mortgage servicing rights is on its to-do list. The big question is how much Wells Fargo is willing to part with. The bank declined to discuss the matter with Inside Mortgage Finance, but confirmed that it seeks to hire what it calls a “project manager” to oversee the effort. A spokeswoman for Wells downplayed the significance of the hire, saying the person who eventually joins the staff will be a “non-executive.” At least four servicing professionals said...

A major mortgage lender and four private mortgage insurance companies – all co-defendants in a class-action lawsuit over captive reinsurance – failed to convince a federal court that the case should be thrown out because the charges were brought well after the timeframe allowed under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. Instead, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ruled that the mortgage borrowers should have the benefit of “equitable tolling,” which allows plaintiffs to bring cases beyond the normal limits of the law if the defendant actively misled them or the plaintiff was prevented in some extraordinary way from asserting his rights in a timely manner. RESPA generally requires...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s fiscal 2014 budget proposal is in for some rough sailing in Congress as House appropriators, unmoved by pleas to soften the impact of sequestration, criticized HUD’s lack of commitment to fiscal reform. Appearing as the sole witness before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan had an earful from Republican lawmakers who expressed “deep concern” about the lack of comprehensive reform proposals in the proposed budget. Subcommittee Chairman Tom Latham, R-IA, expressed...

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is moving forward with its search to find a CEO to run the new common mortgage securitization platform that will one day be shared by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and, potentially, other issuers. But it’s anybody’s guess how much the regulator is willing to pay to get a top-flight candidate, according to industry observers. At least two individuals recently were approached about the job, according to these observers. Funding for the project will presumably come...

For as long as Edward DeMarco remains acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, he said he will push forward with the agency’s strategic plan to wind down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac while encouraging the return of private capital to the secondary market. DeMarco, along with FHFA Inspector General Steve Linick, testified before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee this week. The hearing to evaluate the FHFA’s conduct as regulator and conservator to the government-sponsored enterprises occurred amid reports that the White House is poised to nominate Moody’s Analytics’ Chief Economist Mark Zandi as the FHFA’s new permanent director. “Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were chartered...