Reverse mortgage lenders started out strong in the first three month of 2018 with a 19.2 percent increase in Home Equity Conversion Mortgage production from the previous period. HECM endorsements totaled $5.4 billion in the first quarter, with purchase reverse loans accounting for the bulk of originations, 81.9 percent. First quarter production was up 18.5 percent from the same period last year. Meanwhile, HECM mortgage-backed securities issuance totaled $2.97 billion for the quarter, down from $3.25 billion in the prior quarter, Ginnie Mae data showed. The top five HECM originators in sequential order – American Advisors Group, Reverse Mortgage Funding, One Reverse Mortgage, Liberty Home Equity Solutions, and Synergy One Lending – accounted for $1.66 billion, or 30.8 percent, of total production during the first quarter. American Advisors maintained its top ranking with $841.4 million of HECM loans, which ... [Charts]

Issuance of mortgage securities backed by USDA loans dropped during the first three months of 2018. Approximately $4.03 billion of rural housing loans with a USDA guarantee were delivered in Ginnie Mae MBS during the first quarter, down 18.3 percent from the previous quarter. Agency data also showed an 11.7 percent decline in USDA securitization volume from the same period a year ago. Rural housing loans accounted for 1.5 percent of all loans securitized in Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae pools and 2.8 percent of loans with private or government-backed mortgage insurance. Purchase loans comprised the bulk of USDA loans that were delivered into Ginnie MBS pools. PennyMac knocked Freedom Mortgage out of first place with a total of $753.3 million in securitized USDA loans despite a 10.4 percent decline in production. Freedom Mortgage accounted for $523.3 million of USDA loans pooled in ... [Charts]

Wells Fargo ranked first among non-agency jumbo originators, followed by Chase and Bank of America…

Quicken Loans surpassed Wells as the top retail lender in the first quarter of 2018, according to Inside Mortgage Finance.

Last October, HomeStreet cut 60 employees. In May, it put out for bid $5 billion of mortgage servicing rights….

It might be said that OFHEO was a weak federal regulator...

When trouble hits, a mortgage lender has two main choices: sell the company’s assets or hand over the office keys to the landlord and tell your employees the ugly truth.

Wells Fargo lost its spot as the top-ranked retail originator in the first quarter and recently agreed to sell 52 branches to Flagstar Bank, but company officials insist that the lender is poised for growth in the retail and correspondent channels.

Mick Mulvaney: “If you are doing something less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the time, maybe it’s evidence of a lack of criminal intent…”

In the first quarter, average credit scores on purchase mortgages were virtually unchanged…