Residential originators are getting more confident about lending outside the parameters of the qualified mortgage rule.

On the M&A front, a new report from Compass Point Research & Trading estimates that if PHH Corp. finds a way to sell its mortgage and fleet divisions, the stock should be worth $30 a share.

Banks were largely unwilling to sell off HEL holdings in 2013, according to MountainView Capital Group, an advisor on whole loan sales.

But don’t expect FHFA Director Mel Watt to mention g-fees or LLPAs when he makes his second public speech Tuesday at the Brookings Institution.

Nationstar made “right-party” contact with delinquent borrowers to determine their eligibility for HAMP in only 65 percent of such cases from March 2013 through February, the government found.

All lenders authorized to process VA loans automatically are required to maintain a QC plan and execute it in the course of originating government backed mortgages.

A portion of the loans being bought by SLS are tied to 11 non-agency mortgage-backed securities.

A somewhat large Midwestern-based nonbank is now entertaining takeover bids. A deal could happen within 90 days, IMFnews has learned. Stay tuned…

Members of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee from each party said there is interest on Capitol Hill in moving technical corrections legislation aimed at the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. However, housing finance reform legislation comes first, said Sen. Bob Corker, R-TN, and Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-ND, in comments to attendees at the Independent Community Bankers Association of America’s recent 2014 Washington policy summit. Neither explained exactly why housing reform is the priority, but one observer speculated that, in football terms, “it’s probably because housing reform is closer to the goal line.” Given the suddenly deteriorating prospects for the leading measure in that regard, the so-called Johnson-Crapo bill, that doesn’t bode well for those...

The mortgage lending industry caught a break recently when the CFPB proposed a much-sought “right to cure” a mortgage that would otherwise be considered a qualified mortgage under the bureau’s ability-to-repay rule, except for an inadvertent deviation from the 3 percent points-and-fees cap. The points and fees charged to a consumer on a QM loan generally cannot exceed 3 percent of the loan principal, with higher thresholds specified for various categories of loans below $100,000. If a lender believes, in good faith, that it has offered a QM but afterwards discovers that it has exceeded the 3 percent cap, the proposed rule issued by the CFPB lays out limited circumstances under which the excess can be refunded and still have...