It is unclear how much money is needed to recapitalize RMIC, which is currently in a run-off mode, but Old Republic plans to contribute up to $50 million and raise additional funds in the capital markets to resurrect its MI subsidiaries.
A trio of industry groups is calling upon the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to make sure there is adequate testing of the pending mortgage-origination disclosure forms expected to be released within the next few weeks. In a letter to CFPB Director Richard Cordray, the American Escrow Association, the American Financial Services Association and the Consumer Mortgage Coalition said they strongly support testing the forms before they are put into use. “There are a large number of mortgage loan products in the marketplace, and the rounds of forms the CFPB has released and tested do not accommodate all of them,” the groups said. The forms that have been released so far won’t work...
Lenders are directing more resources toward purchase-mortgage originations and reporting that they are holding underwriting requirements firm. However, an Inside Mortgage Finance analysis of mortgages delivered to the government-sponsored enterprises suggests that purchase-mortgage underwriting requirements have gradually loosened in the past year. The focus on purchase mortgages became urgent as interest rates started to increase in May, settling for the moment about 100 basis points higher than they were in April, reducing demand for refinances. In October, purchase mortgages accounted for over half of the loans securitized by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae. The vast majority of 68 lenders surveyed by the Federal Reserve said...[Includes one data chart]
Fairholme owns $3.5 billion (face value) of GSE junior preferred stock. After company chief Bruce Berkowitz sent his tender offer to FHFA and then went on CNBC to discuss the plan, you can bet that the price of GSE preferred probably increased a bit.
The focus on purchase mortgages became urgent as interest rates started to increase in May, settling for the moment about 100 basis points higher than they were in April, reducing demand for refinances.
The last time private MIs did more business than either the FHA or the VA was back in the first quarter of 2008. At that point, however, private MIs accounted for well over half of primary MI new business.
Are mortgage bankers so diabolical that they attempt to find a way around new regulations? Industry consultant Joe Garrett of Garrett, McAuley & Co. thinks so.
One trade group official told Inside Mortgage Finance that despite efforts by the Federal Housing Finance Agency to create g-fee parity for lenders of different sizes, there has been little in the way of progress.
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