The average mortgage banking firm saw a decline in net income during the fourth quarter of 2014, but the industry ended 2014 in much better shape than it started the year, according to data reported by the Mortgage Bankers Association. The average firm participating in the MBA’s Quarterly Mortgage Bankers Performance Report earned $901,000 in pretax income during the fourth quarter. That was off 36.9 percent from the third quarter, and it brought total income for 2014 to ...

The vibrant market in mortgage-servicing rights challenges originators to figure out the best execution for the receivables they’ve created and for both sides of a servicing deal to make sure the transfer goes smoothly, according to industry experts. Nitin Dave, vice president for securitization and servicing at Southern Trust Mortgage, during a recent MSR conference sponsored by Information Management Network, noted that the market has become more dynamic as ...

First Horizon announced on Thursday that its regional bank agreed to a $212.5 million settlement with the Department of Justice and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The settlement relates to First Tennessee Bank’s underwriting and origination of FHA-insured mortgages from 2006 through 2008.

Mortgage brokers played an increasingly important role in the conventional conforming market during the first quarter of 2015, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of mortgage-backed securities issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Mortgage brokers were responsible for $23.8 billion of single-family mortgages securitized by the two government-sponsored enterprises during the first three months of this year. That was up 16.0 percent ... [Includes two data charts]

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac issued a robust $189.92 billion of single-family mortgage-backed securities during the first three months of 2015, according to a new Inside The GSEs analysis.

The CFPB brought an enforcement action against RMK Financial Corp., a California-based mortgage lender, for allegedly using deceptive mortgage advertising practices, including ads that led consumers to believe that the company was affiliated with the U.S. government.

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The Department of Veterans Affairs will continue removing barriers to delivering home-loan benefits to veterans and service members in 2015, focusing more on further improvements in appraisal and servicing.

George Mason University real estate professor Anthony Sanders, a former head of asset-backed and mortgage-backed securities research at Deutsche Bank, took issue this week with a recent report from the Urban Institute which suggested that residential mortgage credit is still too tight because there are 4 million fewer mortgages originated this year than in 2001, before the housing bubble.

A focus on special servicing has helped Rushmore Loan Management Services increase its portfolio in recent years. Standard & Poor’s also recently upgraded the firm’s special servicing rating to “above average.”