Critics argue that community banks and small credit unions are vulnerable to rules designed for large lenders. Also, if Fannie and Freddie exit conservatorship, many of the guardrails protecting small lenders could vanish.

Incenter Mortgage Advisors is known mostly as a servicing broker and whole loan trader, but through an affiliate it wants to help nonbank mortgage firms tap the student loan market. Will it fly?

PennyMac ranked as the top producer of purchase-money mortgages in the first quarter of 2021. Quicken Loans remained the top refi lender but lost ground to many competitors. (Includes four data charts.)

The origination boom had to end sometime, but don’t reach for the hankies quite yet. Applications remain strong and no one’s going out of business, or so we’re told.

Fannie and Freddie have provided lenders with some flexibilities on construction-related loans. Also, they will pause acquisitions of refinances of mortgages with high loan-to-value ratios.

Besides overseeing HUD and keeping tabs on FHA and Ginnie Mae, Marcia Fudge has a new task: managing the White House’s latest initiative on appraisal inequities.

Applications are down but not dramatically so. Also, UWM’s CEO sees opportunities in the M&A binge, namely the ability to recruit some top-flight talent who might be left without a home.

Correspondent volume was unchanged from the fourth quarter, although a handful of companies grew their shares of the channel and others pulled back. (Includes six data charts.)

Michael DeVito, former head of home lending at Wells Fargo, will take the helm at Freddie Mac.

Minority homeowners are much more likely to have significant savings if they refinance, but they’re much less likely to actually get a refi.