The biggest decline in MI-insured business was in underwater mortgages that were refinanced while keeping their existing coverage under the Home Affordable Refinance Program.

The chairman and CEO of CapWealth Advisors – a private equity firm with stakes in the GSEs – was critical of all the housing reform bills introduced so far and the premise that Fannie and Freddie need to be wound down to affect reform.

Since late last year, the FHFA has decreed that it must approve any GSE servicing sale of 25,000 loans or more, which translates into roughly $5 billion of product.

Will the Ocwen-Wells MSR deal ever get approved? In time, but...

“A few groups have taken a walk through the offices in Cherry Hill,” said a source close to PHH. “People are starting to notice – and leave.”

Another suggestion is to increase the $100,000 threshold for “smaller loans” to $200,000 allowing for mortgage amounts beneath that level to be subject to more workable points-and-fees limits.

The terms of the MBS settlement are subject to approval by the Federal Housing Finance Agency due to Freddie Mac’s involvement.

Why doesn’t the MBA, NAHB and National Association of Realtors just come out and say what they really mean, which is this: Leave Fannie and Freddie alone, return them to their shareholders and they’ll never buy another ALT A or subprime mortgage again.

The resulting lender, which will keep the Ethos name, plans to start originating qualified mortgages in the second quarter of 2014 and non-QMs by the end of the year.

Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-TX, cited a letter from a mortgage banking constituent who said his company is being forced out of the residential lending business because of the cost and complexity of regulatory compliance.