Banks are still making nice profits off their residential lending and servicing businesses, but 4Q12 may turn out to be a peak in the cycle.

Freddie Mac is phasing out a software package that helps with the servicing of delinquent loans, a move that could help private sector technology vendors.

Loan officer compensation to individual originator employees is included in the calculation of the QM’s 3 percent limit on points and fees but the industry believes this is double counting.

Cole Taylor Mortgage, which has grown its servicing portfolio ten-fold in the past year, is now an active Ginnie Mae issuer.

The "flow" market for mortgage servicing continues to improve. IMA is in the market with a new package and others are on the way.

Mortgage profits are improving in the second quarter, but how long can it last? Meanwhile, Freddie talks about the CSP.

Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac held onto their ample shares of mortgage-backed securities with a slight bump during the first quarter of 2013, according to a new Inside The GSEs analysis. The two GSEs issued a combined $355.8 billion in MBS during the first quarter, a 0.9 percent increase from the fourth quarter of 2012. Compared to the first three months of last year, Fannie and Freddie saw a 16.6 percent increase in MBS issuance. Between the two companies, Fannie and Freddie registered an abundant 76.0 percent share of new MBS during the period that ended March 31, 2013, up from 75.8 percent the two companies held during the fourth quarter of 2012 but lower than the 78.0 percent both GSEs held during the first quarter of 2012.

Many people in the mortgage lending and securitization sectors thought the controversial eminent domain plan pushed by Mortgage Resolution Partners was graveyard dead after suffering a few high-profile defeats in various locales throughout the country. They were wrong. Now, a number of interested industry parties are back on the defensive, trying to convince city officials in Richmond, CA, to abandon a new advisory arrangement with MRP and to discourage local government representatives in North Las Vegas, NV, to not reach a similar agreement with the firm. In both instances, the plan being advanced by MRP would involve...

Securitization of income-property mortgages jumped 23.0 percent from already strong levels during the first three months of 2013, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS market analysis. A total of $47.61 billion of commercial MBS were issued during the first quarter, including a variety of non-agency deals as well as multifamily MBS issued by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae. That was the strongest level since structured finance markets tanked in 2008. The previous post-crash high was...[Includes one data chart]

The Vertical Capital Income Fund is a publicly traded mutual fund whose stated goal is to buy whole loans from banks and nonbanks, providing an attractive yield to its investors. But will it ever get around to securitizing its holdings? For now, the answer to that question appears to be no, but it’s something the fund is looking into. “Let’s put it this way; we’ve discussed the possibility,” said Richard Mason, vice president of secondary marketing for the company. Part of Vertical’s problem is...