Having a busy correspondent program helped many of the top agency mortgage sellers cultivate purchase-mortgage business in 2014, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of loan-level data on loans securitized by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae. Mortgages originated by loan correspondents accounted for 35.3 percent of single-family loans securitized by the agencies last year. Retail originations were the ... [Includes two data charts]

Mortgage loan officers are a hot commodity these days, but recruiting top producers is becoming problematic thanks to low interest rates and swelling pipelines. In short, many LOs are reluctant to accept an enticing new salary and bonus because they don’t want to leave money on the table when they depart. “It’s a trend that’s happening now,” said Chris George, president of CMG Mortgage, one of California’s largest privately held nonbanks ...

Using “probability of default” values instead of credit scores to measure risk in a mortgage securitization can provide far more insight and dramatically cut loss exposure, according to a new white paper from VantageScore Solutions, a joint initiative created by the three major credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. “Loan securitization has become an essential source of capital for consumer lenders of all sizes, playing a significant role in ...

Lender-placed insurance continues to simmer amid regulatory scrutiny and ongoing court battles, according to a recent BuckleySandler analysis. While the largest LPI class-action lawsuits have settled, servicers and LPI providers remain entangled in appeals of those settlements and in individual borrower lawsuits, said authors Robyn Quattrone and Stephen LeBlanc, partner and associate, respectively, with the Washington, DC, law firm. In addition, federal ...

Cash-out refinance mortgages accounted for a slightly larger share of the conventional refi market in 2014, according to Freddie Mac’s annual refinance report. The government-sponsored enterprise estimated that cash-out deals accounted for 6.8 percent of total refinance lending last year, up from 3.7 percent in 2013. It was the highest cash-out share since 2009. During the go-go years of 2005-2007, cash-out transactions accounted for more than ...

“Agency product is much easier to originate,” said Eric Burner, a partner at the law firm of Hunton & Williams.

Radian disclosed that its mortgage insurance division wrote $10.0 billion of new policies during 4Q, an 11 percent sequential decline.

A 50-year tradition is now kaput: The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago has cancelled its annual bank structure conference...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development declined to comment on the progress on revised policy drafts that may help reduce lender liability and ease back-end enforcement actions. The FHA is considering procedural changes aimed at easing lender liability to spur more FHA lending to qualified, underserved borrowers. Specifically, FHA is reportedly working to raise the bar on loan certification violations, making it harder to sue lenders for unintentional or technical mistakes. Such a change could spur...

M&T Bank is facing lending discrimination allegations in U.S. District Court in Manhattan after a fair housing group claimed to have accumulated evidence of disparate treatment between qualified minority borrowers and less-qualified white mortgage applicants. The Fair Housing Justice Center, a New-York based nonprofit, accused M&T Bank of violating the Fair Housing Act by offering higher loan amounts to white borrowers and allowing more flexible criteria than those made available for minority borrowers. As of press time, M&T did not respond...