FHA officials first asked for the servicing authority back in June, but the request has gone nowhere. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac already have transfer authority.

A BuckleySandler lawyer reached into Zen lore to make his point. “If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound?” he asked. Similarly, “Starting in 2014: If a lender complies with ATR/QM but cannot evidence it, has the lender complied?”

Meanwhile, mortgage insurers are concerned that the new LLPA grid from Fannie and Freddie will throw cold water on their market share gains.

The FHFA MMI is in better shape? So what, says critic Ed Pinto. He believes that huge problems remain.

The drop in warehouse commitments mirrored, somewhat, the fall-off in residential originations, which declined almost 19 percent in the third quarter, according to figures compiled by Inside Mortgage Finance.

Do mortgage insurance firms need to be "officially" regulated by the federal government?

As a technical matter, Edward DeMarco still heads FHFA and the agency is once again testing the waters for lower Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac loan limits.

The Mortgage Bankers Association and other trade groups are hopping mad at FHFA's latest December surprise: higher LLPAs.

Ed DeMarco of FHFA pulls a 'Beyonce' with the higher LLPAs. Meanwhile, we're hearing that Met Watt may be sworn in by early January.

Wells, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase accounted for a combined 44.7 percent of the $517.75 billion in bank HELOCs outstanding at the end of the third quarter.