A fair question to ask is this: If DOJ goes after Mozilo, why not go after the owners of Ameriquest/Argent which created so much of the faulty subprime product that Greenwich securitized?
A new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of bank call-report data confirms that mortgage banking profits strengthened significantly during the second quarter of 2014. Banks reported a combined $4.910 billion in mortgage banking income for the second quarter of this year, a 45.5 percent increase over the first three months of the year. Earnings releases from 21 publicly traded banks and thrifts showed a 31.5 percent increase in ... [Includes one data chart]
Real estate agents put an emphasis on local lenders over call center lenders, according to qualitative survey results from the latest Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey. Real estate agents indicated that delayed closings are much more common when a buyer is obtaining a mortgage from a call center lender than from a lender with a local office. “Agents crave information and certainty of closing,” said Tom Popik ...
Mid-sized nonbanks the likes of Prospect Mortgage and Guaranteed Rate reportedly have teams of employees whose job it is to look at company acquisitions, but whether any deals of size get completed by year end is another matter. According to interviews conducted by Inside Mortgage Trends, investment banking firms appear to be quite busy with buy- and sell-side clients. Many advisors believe smaller transactions could be plentiful in the second half of the year ...
In July, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed adding 40 new data fields for collection under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. Industry attorneys advised lenders to look at their current operations through the data fields the CFPB will likely see and make adjustments before the federal regulator completes new in-depth analysis. Warren Traiger, counsel at the law firm of BuckleySandler, said the new HMDA data will be a fair lending “game changer” ...
Homebuyers with less-than-stellar credit as well as those with low income are finding it easier to purchase a house with an FHA mortgage than affluent buyers, according to recent research by an independent housing research and consulting firm. Based on Department of Housing and Urban Development data and interviews with industry executives, researchers at John Burns Real Estate Consulting concluded that ...
The Financial Accounting Standards Board has announced changes to the way it accounts for government-backed mortgage loans upon foreclosure. The change, which is being made through FASB’s rule, “Receivables – Troubled Debt Restructurings by Creditors,” is aimed at reducing diversity in the accounting treatment of FHA and VA loans that have been subject to foreclosure, according to FASB’s Emerging Issues Task Force. The EITF ...
The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s request for public comments last week on the structure for a proposed GSE security has some industry insiders wondering if this is the prelude to the eventual consolidation of “Fannie Mac.” The implementation of the single security issued and guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would be part of a “multi-year initiative” to build a common securitization platform.
The head of a group of disenfranchised Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac investors has called on Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt to end conservatorship of the two GSEs and undo what stakeholders consider the illegal government “net worth sweep” of Fannie and Freddie profits. Tim Pagliara, executive director of Investors Unite, followed Watt to Atlanta to seek a meeting with and to put pressure on the director to acknowledge the concerns of GSE shareholders.
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