The amount of home-equity loans held by depository institutions continued to decline in early 2013, with little sign that banks, thrifts and credit unions are likely to ramp up their lending in the near future, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis and ranking. Banks, thrifts and credit unions held some $706.95 billion of home-equity lines of credit and closed-end second mortgages on their books as of the end of March, down 2.8 percent from the previous quarter. Including their $474.09 billion in unused HELOC commitments, depository institutions reported a total home-equity business portfolio of $1.181 trillion, down 7.8 percent from the first quarter of 2012. The unpaid balance of closed-end seconds was...[Includes three data charts]

When the going gets tough in the mortgage lending business, the tough starting laying off loan officers, underwriters, processors, and any others whose jobs are tied to the origination function. As Inside Mortgage Finance went to press this week, there were growing fears in the industry that declining applications – driven by a weakening market for refinancings – were finally taking their toll with several firms contemplating cutting production staff or already handing out pink slips. Industry executives said...

Freddie Mac’s recently announced low-activity fee for seller/servicers not meeting new quotas for loan deliveries and mortgage servicing would limit the ability of community banks to provide mortgages to their customers and should be repealed before the policy takes effect next year, according to two industry trade groups. Last week, the Independent Community Bankers of America dispatched a letter to the government-sponsored enterprise and its conservator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, stating that Freddie’s assessment of a $7,500 annual fee to lenders who fail to deliver mortgage loans with an aggregate principal balance of more than $5 million or who service mortgages for the GSE with an aggregate balance of at least $25 million “goes too far.” The trade group complained...

Community lenders are lobbying for significant exemptions to the Dodd-Frank Act and based on their track record and support in Washington, DC, they might be successful. The Community Mortgage Lenders of America released draft legislation this week known as “The Community Mortgage Lenders Act of 2013.” The bill would exempt community lenders from a number of mortgage requirements in the DFA and beyond. The bill defines...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced the first-ever settlement regarding the treatment of real estate-owned properties in minority neighborhoods. Under an agreement with HUD, the National Fair Housing Alliance and several other fair housing organizations, Wells Fargo will invest a total of $39 million in 45 communities to support neighborhood stabilization and property rehabilitation in minority neighborhoods. The settlement stemmed...

Speaking at a trade show gathering, the ABA's Chris Lewis urged bankers to educate upper management as well as front-line loan officers about the finer nuances of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s ATR rule.

FHA officials had sought the legislation so they can act quickly to address problems involving the troubled HECM program.

Bank of America recorded $10.45 billion of mortgage repurchases and indemnifications during the first quarter of 2013, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of recently released call report data.

Five different nonbank lenders were asked by Inside Mortgage Finance to name the slowest states in terms of approval times. All cited New York as being among the worst.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-NY, countered that a purely non-agency mortgage market would be “a disaster to our economy.”