Will HUD cut money from the FHA and Ginnie Mae programs?

The nation’s residential subservicing specialists increased their contract base to $1.93 trillion at the end of 2016, a 2.7 percent sequential gain and an impressive 22.9 percent improvement over yearend 2015, according to survey figures compiled by Inside Mortgage Finance. It’s a sign that this segment of the industry is beginning to look a bit crowded, which means profit margins could come under pressure. Over the past year, several fairly large players in the market – Flagstar, Nationstar Mortgage, Walter/Ditech and PHH Mortgage – have sold...[Includes one data table]

After years of confusion among servicers and borrowers, the Internal Revenue Service is getting closer to issuing guidance about how servicers should report interest to the IRS on mortgages that receive significant loan modifications. The Mortgage Bankers Association and the American Bankers Association recently submitted a joint comment letter to the agency, which announced plans to issue guidance on the matter back in December 2015. The trade groups said...

Secretary Ben Carson may not yet have a clear agenda and a set of priorities for the Department of Housing and Urban Development over the next four years, but the House Financial Services Committee appears to have identified changes that Republican lawmakers want to see at the agency. A HUD spokesman said Carson will embark next week on a nationwide “listening” tour of certain communities and HUD field offices to learn more about the agency he leads, FHA programs and the mortgage insurance fund he oversees. On March 2, Vice President Mike Pence swore...

A proposal by the Maryland Commissioner of Financial Regulation regarding servicing transfers prompted strong opposition from servicers, who cautioned that it would disrupt mortgage markets. In January, the Maryland CFR proposed a number of amendments to its mortgage regulations. The proposal revised an initial plan from the state regulator back in January 2015. The new proposal included...

Since Fairholme filed its “takings” case the government, Uncle Sam has turned over 48,000 documents totaling more than 500,000 pages.

According to one advisor: “I do think a thaw is on, but if you threw it on the grill, it would still be pretty tough because it’s not fully defrosted.”

Fannie and Freddie are still worth less than social media darling Snap, but the gap is narrowing...

Among the top 30, LoanCare had the largest increase to its jumbo servicing portfolio…

Fairholme extolled the GSE’s massive fourth quarter profits of almost $10 billion, and called them “indispensable” to the mortgage insurance industry…