In a few weeks the White House will release its new budget and there’s increasing speculation that it will ask for $3 billion to $5 billion for the beleaguered FHA Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund…

The federal judge in charge of overseeing multiple lawsuits filed by the Federal Housing Finance Agency against non-agency mortgage-backed securities issuers for misrepresenting deals that were sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac rebuffed yet another motion by one of the banks to shut down the legal action.

National MI, the Emeryville, CA-based mortgage insurer started by former executives at The PMI Group, has yet to write its first policy, but may soon.

Arch Bay Capital, once one of the most active buyers of nonperforming residential loans, has sold most of its NPL portfolio and launched a company that will originate non-agency mortgages, according to industry officials who have been briefed on its plans.

JPMorgan Chase marked up the asset value of its mortgage servicing rights by 8 percent in the fourth quarter to $7.6 billion and reported strong residential lending results, funding $51.2 billion of product, a slight gain from a very strong third quarter.

JPMorgan Chase is joining the ranks of banks laying off loan review staff now that they’ve settled their foreclosure cases with the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which has a mortgage-related field hearing scheduled for Thursday in Atlanta, is expected to issue its final servicing rule this week.

Newcastle Investment Corp., a key player in the huge servicing sale recently unveiled by Bank of America, has raised roughly $538 million by selling 57.5 million shares of common stock in the open market.

Now that mortgage insurance claims are waning, and new business is on the rise again, there’s increasing talk that Essent Guaranty might file papers to go public this year.