The government-sponsored enterprises plan to expand their risk-sharing activities in a number of ways in 2015, according to officials at the GSEs and the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Kevin Palmer, a vice president of strategic credit costing and structuring at Freddie Mac, said Freddie is set to include a broader group of mortgages in its risk-sharing transactions in an effort to increase the investor base. Fannie has similar plans. The GSEs have issued...

The megabanks also decreased their use of interest rate reductions on loan modifications...

At the top of the heap was the Federal Reserve, which boosted its agency MBS portfolio by 3.8 percent during the second quarter.

Just how large is the non-QM market? That’s hard to say...

Last week, the Senate passed legislation that would extend to state-licensed mortgage companies – and the state regulatory agencies that oversee them – the same kind of protections against waivers of privilege for information provided to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that was previously extended to federal agencies that supervise depository mortgage lenders. The measure, H.R. 5062, the Examination and Supervisory Privilege Parity Act of 2014, would require the CFPB to coordinate its supervisory activities with state agencies that license, supervise or examine those who offer consumer financial products or services. Currently under the Dodd-Frank Act, the bureau is only required to coordinate with federal and state banking regulators. The legislation also would provide...

Mortgage lenders reported $1.762 trillion in new purchase-money and refinance originations during 2013 under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis of the data released by federal agencies this week. HMDA purchase and refinance originations were down 12.4 percent from 2012, with the biggest decline in refi activity, off 26.2 percent. Purchase-mortgage lending was up in both the government-insured market (up 1.3 percent) and conventional originations (up 32.5 percent). Even with the sharp downturn in business, refinance originations accounted...[Includes one data chart]

It's unclear what exactly Leslie Peeler will do at IBM Mortgage. The tech giant rarely says anything about its mortgage division.

The market outside the pristine parameters of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s qualified mortgage offers less-competitive opportunity and potentially sizeable legal risk, according to panelists participating in a webinar sponsored this week by Inside Mortgage Finance. Brian Simon, chief operating officer for New Penn Financial, noted that the regulatory environment makes a move into non-QM lending much more complicated than in the past because the risks for the originator and the purchaser now are greater than they’ve ever been. However, Simon added: “A high degree of difficulty usually results in higher yield and opportunity.” The New Penn executive predicted...

Attorneys for a group of disenfranchised Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac junior shareholders have joined another shareholder group’s motion in federal court asking the government to come clean with all of the documents and records regarding the Treasury’s “Third Amendment” and “net-worth sweep” of nearly all government-sponsored enterprises’ profits. In papers filed last week in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Perry Capital lead attorney Ted Olson asked to join Fairholme Fund’s request for “supplementation” of the record. Both plaintiffs contend the government has failed to provide for court review of the “whole record” as required under the Administrative Procedures Act. “The government is...

Ocwen Financial – once the largest buyer of “legacy” mortgage servicing rights in the secondary market – is mostly sitting on the sidelines these days when it comes to buying new product. According to servicing advisors and industry officials familiar with the company, the nonbank has been selectively bidding on smaller pools, staying away from larger deals. Meanwhile, Ocwen still hopes...