The advisory firm based its findings on the operating results of 37 independent mortgage banking companies across the U.S.

Roughly 25 percent of lenders said they hope to enter the home equity lending market over the next 12 months.

MBA's Gross noted that the cost of changing external auditors is “significant,” both for large and small seller/servicers, whether they are public or not.

In general, the industry believes a g-fee hike may not happen after all, but then there's all those "other charges."

One question we occasionally hear is this one: If the GOP this fall gains control of the Senate can’t they just push through a GSE reform bill and hope to override a presidential veto, if there is one?

Mortgage lenders securitized $90.95 billion of single-family MBS through the GSEs and Ginnie Mae during August – the biggest monthly volume since September 2013, according to IM&A.

The top contributor to the new Redwood jumbo MBS is First Republic Bank with an 18.2 percent market share.

There are signs of life in mortgage hiring, depending on the job description. Firms looking to increase staff levels include the lending arm of Bayview Asset Management, Citadel Loan Servicing and Carrington Mortgage Services.

“The CFPB’s plan will feature only one side of the story, and such one-sided accounts will not advance the CFPB’s mission of better informing and helping consumers,” said FSR chief Tim Pawlenty.

Ever since the housing bust, mortgage bankers have coveted the Ginnie Mae “eagle,” which allows them to issue and service the agency’s MBS, but the pipeline of new applications is slowing. According to figures provided to Inside MBS & ABS, the agency had received 78 new applications through the end of July compared to 89 in fiscal 2013 and 99 the prior year. In an interview with this newsletter, Ginnie President Ted Tozer acknowledged the decline in applications, but didn’t seem all that concerned, adding: “I think we received a bunch recently.” In other words, applications could wind up...