In its successful civil suit against Bank of America, DOJ estimated that the two GSEs lost $850 million from thousands of loans acquired through Countrywide's “Hustle” program.

Many mortgage originators and aggregators say they would use some form of recording, either audio or audio/video, to help with QM compliance and fighting potential lawsuits.

Buyback resolutions declined by 28 percent from the second quarter, even as the government-sponsored enterprises wrapped up large-scale settlements with a handful of their largest sellers.

Shrinking default rates and lower refinance volumes have forced a shift in the mortgage industry’s focus to the purchase market, but lenders must beware that the current business environment is vastly different than yesterday’s purchase market, experts said at the Mortgage Bankers Association’s annual convention last week. Matthew Vernon, a home loan sales executive at Bank of America, told attendees that a small but critical distinction to remember is that lenders aren’t going into a purchase market ...

Most outstanding adjustable-rate mortgages have already reset, eliminating concerns about payment shock as interest rates increase, according to a new analysis by Lender Processing Services. However, home-equity loan performance is expected to deteriorate. Some 63 percent of outstanding ARMs have reset, according to LPS. And more than 75 percent of the ARMs scheduled to reset were originated after 2008. “We’re not seeing a significant effect that could cause new problem loans or any resurgence in ...

Although the overall U.S. economy added jobs this fall, mortgage banking and brokerage firms continued to shed workers, a trend that is likely to continue until lenders, servicers and others “right size” their companies for declining refinance volume. According to figures compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the mortgage banking and brokerage sectors shed 6,000 jobs in September. The mortgage brokerage industry shed 2,200 jobs during the month, bankers 3,800, according to an analysis from Inside Mortgage Trends ...

More players are entering the mortgage servicing market even with all the challenges besetting the sector, from the new national servicing standards to Basel III capital requirements, according to industry experts. With megabanks shrinking their mortgage businesses and servicing portfolios, small to medium-sized firms are stepping in to fill the gap, panelists observed during the recent Mortgage Bankers Association annual convention. Purchasers of mortgage servicing rights are mostly nonbanks with no ...

Three major special servicers are grappling with growth issues as they compete for servicing portfolios and work to establish origination platforms. Nationstar Mortgage, Ocwen Financial and Walter Investment Management all posted lower income in the third quarter of 2013 compared with the previous quarter. Nationstar announced this week that it is downsizing its servicing sites and plans to sell its non-core broker and distributed retail origination channels to Stonegate Mortgage ... [Includes one data chart]

Court Dismisses Freddie Shareholders Subprime Lawsuit. A federal appeals court this week dismissed a lawsuit brought by Freddie Mac shareholders accusing the GSE of hiding the state of its finances and it subprime mortgage exposure before the 2008 financial crisis.The shareholders – led by Central States, Southeast and Southwest Area Pension Fund – accused Freddie of hiding its potential insolvency even after revealing a $2 billion quarterly loss in November 2007. Freddie, along with fellow GSE Fannie Mae, was placed into conservatorship in September 2008.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac this week reported a combined $3.53 billion of mortgage repurchases and other buyback resolutions during the third quarter of 2013, the lowest quarterly amount in three years, according to a new analysis by Inside Mortgage Trends. Buyback resolutions declined by 28.2 percent from the second quarter, even as the government-sponsored enterprises wrapped up large-scale settlements with a handful of their largest sellers. Fannie and Freddie so far this year ... [Includes one data chart]