Quicken Loans, for example, reported a 4.9 percent increase in total originations compared to 4Q15. An estimated 81.0 percent of the nonbank’s production in 2015 was refinance loans…

Comments are due on Friday from working group members that have been participating in the effort.

The publicly traded servicer/originator took in $330.7 million in revenue, a 35.2 percent decline from 1Q15. Its origination revenue was a meager $23.2 million…

Mortgage lenders that have excelled at originating refinance loans posted steady and improving originations during the first quarter of 2016 while competitors that are more focused on the purchase-mortgage market generally saw declining production levels. A new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis and ranking shows that first-lien mortgage originations totaled an estimated $380.0 billion during the first three months of 2016, down slightly from the fourth quarter of last year. That estimate could change as more information becomes available, especially from major nonbank lenders that have not yet reported first-quarter originations data. Agency indicators were...[Includes two data tables]

Thanks to rising loan applications and a stronger-than-anticipated start to the second quarter, merger and acquisition activity in the mortgage industry is at muted levels these days, according to investment banking officials. In other words, lenders will continue to “make hay while the sun shines,” believing that current profit margins are just too good right now to consider selling out. It was originally thought...

Lone Star was the first firm to issue a non-agency MBS backed predominantly by non-QMs...

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s latest monthly report on consumer complaints finds that borrowers who are having a hard time staying current on their mortgages are still having problems with their servicers. The bureau said 51 percent of gripes involved problems homeowners faced when they were unable to make their mortgage payments. Consumers continued...

Will President Trump (if elected) tax mortgage servicers that use offshore workers?

While S&P will rate new non-agency MBS without formal guidance from the CFPB, the rating service noted that the market’s handling of TRID issues is fluid...

On the subject of delayed closings, one agent had this to say: “All of my closings are taking two to four weeks longer to close, and there has been a lot of confusion…”