Low-downpayment lending is the highest it’s been in almost seven years as the purchase market keeps growing, according to new data from Black Knight Financial Services. “Over the past 12 months, approximately 1.5 million borrowers have purchased homes using less than 10-percent downpayments,” according to Ben Graboske, executive vice president of Black Knight Data & Analytics. “The increase is primarily a function of the overall growth in purchase lending ...
Provident Savings Bank, headquartered in California, recently laid off staff in its mortgage unit due to a decline in refinance volume. “During the past six months, we’ve reduced capacity to more closely align to the current opportunities in the market, which reflect an uptick in purchase-money activity, but a significant decline in refinance activity,” said Craig Blunden, chairman and CEO of Provident Financial Holdings, the holding company of the bank. He said the lender reduced its ...
Companies looking to acquire servicing via bulk transfers need to be mindful of how the transaction will impact borrowers, according to analysts at Strategic Mortgage Finance Group. Officials at Stratmor warned that a poorly executed transfer can significantly reduce servicing value as dissatisfied borrowers are unlikely to refinance with the lender/servicer. Michael Grad, a senior partner at the firm, said a servicing operation that maintains a strong borrower relationship and ...
The private mortgage insurance industry is calling for a level playing field between the government-sponsored enterprises and FHA and VA as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau begins its assessment of the ability-to-repay rule. In comments to the CFPB, U.S. Mortgage Insurers urged the bureau to determine whether potential arbitrage in QM standards for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and those for FHA and VA have had any negative effect on consumers ...
The private mortgage insurance business saw a jump in its share of the primary MI market during the second quarter, and all six active firms racked up solid gains in earnings, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis and ranking. Private MIs reported $70.65 billion in new primary MI written through traditional flow business activity during the second quarter. That was up 38.4 percent from the first three months of the year, though still slightly below the pace set in late 2016. Meanwhile, the government-insurance market faltered...[Includes two data tables]
Watt, a former Congressman, wants Congress to reform the GSEs legislatively to solve their conservatorship status and find a path forward for the two enterprises.
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