Many left-leaning politicians have complained that Wall Street executives got off the hook for the financial crisis...

Home-equity lending jumped to its strongest level in seven years during the second quarter of 2015, but most depository institutions continued to see declining balances in their home-equity portfolios, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance ranking and analysis. An estimated $24.0 billion of home-equity lines-of-credit and second mortgages were originated during the second quarter, up 23.1 percent from the first three months of the year. It was the highest production level since the second quarter of 2008. Although the Federal Reserve won’t release an official figure for home-equity loans outstanding at the end of June until next week, call-report data suggest...[Includes three data tables]

Industry trade groups are calling for the withdrawal of a proposed servicing rule that would set new deadlines for filing FHA insurance claims and penalize lenders with termination of insurance coverage if they failed to comply. Banks, independent mortgage lenders and credit unions warn that FHA’s proposed changes to its claims regulations could result in higher interest rates, credit restrictions and lenders exiting from the FHA program. Such effects could be magnified in the hardest hit housing markets, particularly in states that have long foreclosure timelines or older housing stock. The FHA proposal addresses...

UST did not identify the mortgage firm selling the product, but described it as “well capitalized” and in “good standing” with Ginnie Mae.

Coester filed suit against the Virginia Real Estate Appraiser Board, charging that the regulator is engaged in “a conspiracy to restrain and monopolize trade” and is operating in violation of antitrust laws.

The judge presiding over the case ruled that securities law regulates "disclosure of information, not the mismanagement of a company...”

However, insuring private-label MBS is not likely to be a future activity of the MI industry, given the losses suffered in the past...

Collingwood's latest hire is Paul Mullins, former senior vice president of single-family lending for Freddie Mac.

FCC Order Conflicts With CFPB Mortgage Servicing Rules, Other Foreclosure Prevention Efforts, Industry Group Says. A recent order from the Federal Communications Commission clarifying certain provisions of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act clashes with the CFPB’s mortgage servicing rule and other federal regulations designed to help struggling homeowners hold onto their homes, a representative of national mortgage lenders, servicers and service providers wrote top government officials last week. The FCC’s order, released June 18, 2015, aims to bolster consumer protections against unwanted telephone calls and texts by, in part, restricting the ability of mortgage servicers, debt collectors and others to make autodialed or prerecorded phone calls without prior express consent of the person called. Violators face strict liability for noncompliance...

If consent is unavailable, the phone call is impermissible, absent the use of technology the mortgage lending industry generally views as obsolete, such as a rotary or push-button telephone.