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 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.
Walter notes: “We have already achieved cost reductions in a number of areas, but there can be no assurance that we will be able to reduce costs so as to enable the servicing business to return to profitability in the near term or at all.”
Non-qualified mortgages are starting to look attractive to some nonbanks with refinance activity declining and interest rates projected to increase. Officials at Nationstar Mortgage revealed late last week that they plan to launch a non-QM offering later this year or in early 2018. “You’re starting to see some activity there,” Jay Bray, Nationstar’s president, chairman and CEO, said during the nonbank’s recent earnings call. “And when we look at our portfolio, we may be in the best position in the industry, frankly, to offer some of those products.” Nationstar serviced...
Not only has the proposed sale of First Mortgage Co. fallen apart, but a recent lawsuit filed against the company by a new warehouse lending firm raises serious questions about FMC’s recent profitability and its future. As Inside Mortgage Finance went to press this week, FMC was no longer making new loans, but was still servicing its past production, estimated at $1.67 billion. Company owner and CEO Ron McCord – one of six defendants sued by warehouse provider CapLoc – said...