The Department of Agriculture’s single-family guaranteed housing loan program ended fiscal 2014 with $19.1 billion in loan guarantees, down from the record $22.4 billion in loan guarantees reported in the prior year, according to agency estimates. Month-over-month, Section 502 loan guarantees were up to $2.1 billion in September over August, ending the quarter on a strong note. 2013 was a record year for loan guarantees under the USDA’s Section 502 loan program, the largest of the agency’s single-family housing program, thanks to robust refinancing activity. Many USDA homeowners took advantage of the lower rates offered under a joint refi pilot program by USDA and Chase Home Finance, the top USDA lender, last year. Chase fully funded the pilot. In 2014, Texas led all states in rural housing guarantees with $927 million, followed by North Carolina ($880 million), Michigan ($720 million) ... [1 chart]
PennyMac’s MSR portfolio is almost evenly divided between subservicing for others, the company’s own originations, and mortgage servicing rights acquired from others.
Walter was already under the investigative microscope of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission because of its servicing practices.
Of the dozen or so mortgage company sales that have been announced over the past two months, just one has involved a servicing portfolio of any size and even that transaction – $1.5 billion of mortgage servicing rights owned by Continental Home Loans – was small. In today’s merger and acquisitions market, it’s all about building loan origination capacity as buyers such as Freedom Mortgage, LoanDepot and Guild Mortgage try to keep growing. Moreover, this thirst for production comes...
In 2013, Provident Funding Associates of California was the second largest originator of home mortgages through loan brokers, but it has fallen from that high perch in recent quarters. Moreover, there have been recent reports that the privately held nonbank may significantly trim the number of states where it’s willing to accept submissions from brokers. Wholesalers and brokers alike told Inside Mortgage Finance they have heard talk of a large-scale pullout by Provident in multiple states, but have seen nothing definitive. According to agency mortgage-backed securities data compiled by Inside Mortgage Finance, Provident was active with brokers doing business in 41 states over the first nine months of 2014. One broker trade group official, requesting anonymity, said...
A proposal from the Conference of State Bank Supervisors to increase reporting requirements on state mortgage call reports has been met with strong resistance from a number of lender trade groups. In October, the CSBS proposed collecting additional quarterly information regarding qualified mortgages and servicing, among other data submitted as part of the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry’s mortgage call report. The comment period closed late last week. “We join...