The Department of Justice recently announced settlements from three fair lending actions, all of which included allegations related to wholesale mortgage lending operations. In the first case, Southport Bank of Kenosha, WI, agreed to pay $687,000 to African-American and Hispanic wholesale mortgage borrowers as part of a settlement to resolve allegations that it engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination on the basis of race and national origin. The proceeds of the settlement will be used...

Among other things, the Federal Home Loan Banks want to maintain their ability to securitize residential mortgages for their members.

While standardization was the focus of jumbo investors, perhaps the bigger concern for participants is that most investors said they were looking to buy almost anything other than new jumbo MBS.

Meanwhile, smaller mortgage lenders that do not have delegated underwriting authority are reporting delays on getting loans closed.

The CMC letter follows one sent last night by 15 housing and mortgage-related trade groups to Acting FHFA Director Edward DeMarco, asking him not to lower the GSE loan limit, while questioning the legality of such a change.

ABA will send FHFA its own letter on GSE loan limits. Meanwhile, CFPB finds two mortgage bankers over RESPA violations.

Peters Sack of Credit Suisse said the bank portfolio bid is currently much stronger than the economics for issuing jumbo MBS.

PHH is the latest top ten-ranked residential lender to unveil mortgage layoffs. The workers were given 60-days notice.

Wells Fargo and Bank of America rank first and second, respectively, among bank home equity lenders, according to exclusive rankings from Inside Mortgage Finance.

What if the U.S. government actually defaults on its debt – what would that do to the value of MBS and Treasuries held on the balance sheet of banks? You may not want to know the answer.