Over the past few months, the chief executive officers at two publicly traded mortgage firms and a private cooperative have departed, creating uncertainty in the market while underscoring what might seem obvious to some: It’s not easy running a mortgage business these days. CEOs heading for the exits – either on their own accord or via a management edict – include Jim Cutillo of Stonegate, Jeff McGuiness at the Lenders One Cooperative, and most recently Mark O’Brien, who headed nonbank lender/servicer Walter Investment Management Corp. And rounding out the “departure club” is...

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac this week announced a new “origination defects and remedies framework” designed to give lenders more clarity about underwriting problems that could lead to a repurchase demand. The framework sets three categories of loan defect: findings, price-adjusted loans and significant defects. Findings are negligible defects that had no effect on whether the loan was acceptable to the government-sponsored enterprise. The GSE will not require a price adjustment or other remedy from the lender, though it may request updated data regarding the loan. Price-adjusted loans are...

The results of a new survey conducted for NeighborWorks America suggest that student loan debt is an obstacle for a growing share of potential homebuyers. The congressionally chartered organization with a focus on housing counseling also found confusion among potential homebuyers regarding the mortgage market. Some 57 percent of respondents said student loan debt was an obstacle to purchasing a home, up from a 49 percent share last year. The survey involved 1,000 adults. And 76 percent of respondents with student debt said the homebuying process is complicated, up from a 70 percent share in 2014. The greatest obstacle for potential homebuyers continues...

Roughly 45 percent of FHA-insured, first-lien purchase mortgages had annual percentage rates in excess of the reporting threshold...

The former CFPB official said non-W-2 borrowers – like the self-employed, retirees and people with seasonal income – account for 30 to 40 percent of applicants for jumbo mortgages...

Like many banks that have had run-ins with the DOJ and HUD IG, Fifth Third's FHA volume has fallen dramatically.

It appears that lenders were encouraging their loan officers to get applications in before the Oct. 3 implementation of the new RESPA-TILA integrated disclosure rule.

When the news broke about Stonegate this past summer, FBR issued a note to its clients saying that, “We expect the company has two options: hire a replacement CEO quickly, or sell the business altogether.”

The flow of FHA purchase mortgages jumped 37.7 percent from the second to the third quarter, and VA purchase mortgages rose 37.9 percent over the same period.

Movement's attorney declined to identify the lender's MSA partners, but said “no enforcement action” was taken against the privately held company, which was started in 2007 by former NFL player Casey Crawford.