Compass Point hiked its purchase money estimate to $819 billion from $787 billion.

Ocwen’s share price has almost doubled! How’s that? Well...

Broker-originated purchase mortgages pushed the envelope a little further, with an average credit score of 719.1 and an average DTI of 37.7.

From 2005 to 2007 homeowners converted an estimated $823 billion of home equity into swimming pools, cars, hospital bills and other uses. Of course, those days are long gone.

Cash-out refinance mortgages accounted for a slightly larger share of the conventional refi market in 2014, according to Freddie Mac’s annual refinance report. The government-sponsored enterprise estimated that cash-out deals accounted for 6.8 percent of total refinance lending last year, up from 3.7 percent in 2013. It was the highest cash-out share since 2009. During the go-go years of 2005-2007, cash-out transactions accounted for more than ...

Lender-placed insurance continues to simmer amid regulatory scrutiny and ongoing court battles, according to a recent BuckleySandler analysis. While the largest LPI class-action lawsuits have settled, servicers and LPI providers remain entangled in appeals of those settlements and in individual borrower lawsuits, said authors Robyn Quattrone and Stephen LeBlanc, partner and associate, respectively, with the Washington, DC, law firm. In addition, federal ...

Using “probability of default” values instead of credit scores to measure risk in a mortgage securitization can provide far more insight and dramatically cut loss exposure, according to a new white paper from VantageScore Solutions, a joint initiative created by the three major credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. “Loan securitization has become an essential source of capital for consumer lenders of all sizes, playing a significant role in ...

Mortgage loan officers are a hot commodity these days, but recruiting top producers is becoming problematic thanks to low interest rates and swelling pipelines. In short, many LOs are reluctant to accept an enticing new salary and bonus because they don’t want to leave money on the table when they depart. “It’s a trend that’s happening now,” said Chris George, president of CMG Mortgage, one of California’s largest privately held nonbanks ...

Having a busy correspondent program helped many of the top agency mortgage sellers cultivate purchase-mortgage business in 2014, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of loan-level data on loans securitized by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae. Mortgages originated by loan correspondents accounted for 35.3 percent of single-family loans securitized by the agencies last year. Retail originations were the ... [Includes two data charts]

Bulletin 2015-1. Jan. 29. Freddie Mac announced its participation in an expanded Home Affordable Modification Program “Pay for Performance” incentive program. The program was developed in conjunction with Fannie Mae at the direction of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The expanded program will include HAMP’s “Year Six Pay for Performance” incentive, which provides a $5,000 lump-sum payment to help eligible borrowers with first-lien Freddie Mac loans modified under HAMP reduce their principal balance. The HAMP incentive is effective April 1, 2015. Servicing Update. Feb. 9. Freddie introduced a bulk appeal template for late foreclosure sale reporting compensatory fees. Servicers can use this template to submit multiple compensatory fee appeals at a time through Freddie’s Default Fee Appeal System. The system ...