M&T Bank Settles Allegations It Used ‘Neighborhood Racial Criteria’ for Mortgage Product. A court approved M&T Bank's settlement with the Fair Housing Justice Center under which the Buffalo, NY-based bank will pay $485,000 while agreeing to revise its residential origination policies. The nonprofit FHJC filed a lawsuit in February after investigating the bank’s “Get Started Program.” The mortgage product is aimed at homes in “majority minority” neighborhoods or in low- or moderate-income areas. The product is for first-time homebuyers and it allows for low downpayments and the ability to finance closing costs. The FHJC found that M&T loan officers discriminated against potential borrowers based on race and national origin, alleging violations of the Fair Housing Act. Among other issues, minority ...

Ginnie Mae had the smallest decline of the three agencies as new issuance slid 4.7 percent from July.

Besides being in charge of retail and correspondent lending, DeVito will oversee sales, operations, quality control, compliance, underwriting and support services.

Lenders such as Sistar Mortgage of Michigan (licensed in 27 states) are still hiring.

Of course, there is a way to avoid the zero capital cushion dilemma. Congress can pass legislation to allow the GSEs to build capital or FHFA can act...

Adjustable-rate mortgage originations increased by 19.5 percent during the second quarter of 2015, but ARM production this year trails 2014 levels significantly. An estimated $49.0 billion in ARMs were originated in the second quarter, bringing the total for 2015 to $90.0 billion. That represented just 11.2 percent of total first-lien originations for the first half of the year, compared with 18.9 percent over the first six months of 2014. Interest rates ... [Includes one data chart]

EverBank Financial has been able to maintain strong loan performance while building up its jumbo originations. EverBank had $1.46 billion in jumbo originations during the second quarter of 2015, up 31.6 percent from a year ago. The bank’s originations of conventional mortgages increased by 11.9 percent in that span, hitting $1.26 billion in the second quarter. In August, Moody’s Investors Service reaffirmed its rating of EverBank as a “strong” originator of jumbo mortgages ...

While the vast majority of jumbo mortgages being originated continue to feature tight underwriting standards, some lenders are willing to offer unique jumbos, with downpayments as low as 5 percent or allowing for borrowers who are unemployed. Parkside Lending recently launched a jumbo that allows for combined loan-to-value ratios as high as 95 percent. The lender doesn’t require mortgage insurance on the loans. “We believe our new jumbo loan offering ...

Wells Fargo this week said it would reinstate certain credit overlays on its FHA business segment after expressing frustration over FHA’s republished proposal on loan-level certification. The lender, which ranked second on Inside FHA/VA Lending’s top FHA lenders for the first six months of 2015, reiterated the need for clearer rules in order to originate FHA-insured loans without fear of litigation or enforcement action. The bank said it is very disappointed with FHA’s revised certification proposal, which was republished in the Sept. 1 Federal Register. “In spite of much input to FHA from various consumer groups and lenders over a long period of time, [the] proposal falls short of what is needed,” said Mike Heid, head of Wells Fargo Home Lending. “As a result, this will now force us to add back certain credit overlays on the FHA single-family program.” Other FHA lenders could follow Wells Fargo’s lead as some did when ...

Securitized FHA,VA and rural housing loans in Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities totaled $188.5 billion in the first six months of 2015, fueled by significant purchase and refinance activity, according to an Inside FHA/VA Lending analysis of Ginnie Mae data. An estimated $113.4 billion in FHA-insured mortgages were securitized during the first half of the year. Of that total, $60.6 billion were purchase mortgages and $44.2 billion were refinance loans. FHA purchase-loan production increased 58.8 percent in the second quarter from the prior quarter while refi lending jumped 160.8 percent over the same period as FHA’s reduced annual mortgage insurance premium began to take hold. The FHA loans that went into Ginnie MBS showed an average loan-to-value ratio of 92.8 percent and an average debt-to-income ratio of 39.7 percent. Borrowers’ average FICO score was 675.9, which was indicative of ... [ 2 charts ]