Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro faced the wrath of the GOP majority during a House Financial Services Committee hearing this week on the state of the FHA, focusing on the agency’s recent decision to cut annual mortgage insurance premiums. While Castro may have been warned about stepping into the lion’s den, he appeared ill-prepared for the confrontation with Republicans, unable to answer basic questions such as FHA’s net income, overall delinquency rate and the serious delinquency rate for 2014. Democrats, on the other hand, helped the embattled secretary regain his footing by expressing support for FHA’s efforts and putting perspective on some of FHA’s actions to strengthen the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund and help qualify more borrowers for FHA credit. Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-TX, set...

RoundPoint Mortgage, a servicer with more than $41 billion of receivables on its books, is entertaining offers for the entire company, according to industry officials briefed on the matter. Moreover, servicing advisors contend that several large bulk servicing portfolios are ready to hit the market in what should turn out to be a busy late winter/early spring for both buyers and sellers of mortgage servicing rights. In a recent public disclosure, Ocwen Financial said...

A 50-year tradition is now kaput: The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago has cancelled its annual bank structure conference...

Institutional investors that loaded up on mortgage stocks the past two years have been battered by huge losses thanks to a 34 percent plunge in originations and negative publicity generated by industry bellwether Ocwen Financial and some of its peers. But with some mortgage stocks – such as Owen – trading at 80 percent discounts to their 52-week highs, now may be the time to “re-enter” the volatile world of mortgage equities. At least, that’s how some hedge funds and private-equity firms view the matter. According to Henry Coffey, a vice president and senior analyst at Sterne Agee, there are...

Stan Middleman, chairman of CHMI, told IMFnews that having agency approvals will allow the REIT to leverage servicing rights...

According to the MBA, a Big Four accounting firm issued controversial guidance which would have been burdensome for small MBS issuers.

Bayview is purchasing from a network of correspondent sellers roughly $10 million per month in loans that don’t meet the QM test defined by the CFPB.

Citadel Servicing Corp., which has made a name for itself as a new-style subprime lender, has rolled out an Alt A mortgage called “Maggi.”

Treasury counselor Michael Stegman noted that policymakers on both sides of the aisle are dissatisfied with the current status quo regarding Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Marina Walsh, vice president of industry analysis for MBA, said, “We don’t have enough information to do a thorough analysis of the proposal.”