Government attorneys sought to block Howard’s access on the grounds that he owns Fannie shares and would be biased.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was critical this week of aspects of the student loan securitization process as well as servicer performance as it issued its latest annual report on private student-loan borrowing. The report analyzed more than 5,300 private student loan complaints between Oct. 1, 2013, and Sept. 30, 2014, an increase of 38 percent over the previous year. “Lending practices in the private student-loan market in the years preceding the financial crisis shared...

Bill Dallas, who runs Skyline Lending, told us he believes the “new” non-agency movement is beginning right now. “Today, we‘re doing 90 percent agency,” he said. “In 2017 the ratio will be 60 percent agency.”

American Homeowner Preservation, a hedge fund that invests in distressed mortgages and helps some borrowers with loan modifications, said it proves distressed mortgage sales can be “preservative and profitable.” Officials at AHP said the fund has now helped more than 500 distressed borrowers avoid foreclosure via loan modifications. Investors in AHP also earn strong returns from the firm’s purchases of distressed mortgages. AHP started as a nonprofit in 2008, buying short sales ...

In fact, nearly a fifth of the repurchases involved loans sold to the GSEs by Lehman Brothers or its related mortgage businesses.

According to one analyst, "Ackman is reloading the boat with the extra cash he has on hand. Hopefully, others will join him.”

More trouble for Walter Investment Management? Meanwhile, according to NTC, as many as 490,000 homeowners could be affected by faulty servicer database records.

State regulators recently proposed expanding the data that state-licensed lenders must report on the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry’s mortgage call report. The State Regulatory Registry said the data help state regulators supervise licensees, determine examination schedules, monitor compliance and calculate assessments. The SRR was established by the Conference of State Bank Supervisors and the American Association of Residential Mortgage Regulators. The SRR owns and operates the NMLS and has required state-licensed lenders to submit quarterly call report data since 2011. On Oct. 1, the SRR proposed...[Includes one data chart]

Thanks to rapidly improving delinquency rates and real estate values, the bloom appears to be off the rose for specialty servicers that built their business on processing delinquent and high-touch mortgages that are guaranteed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the FHA. Over the past month, layoffs have plagued both Wingspan Portfolio Services, Dallas, and Residential Credit Solutions of Fort Worth, TX. Moreover, industry officials who work in the servicing sector believe...

Bank of America blamed the layoffs on “continued reductions” in its legacy mortgage business “as well as actions taken in sales and fulfillment as refinance demand slowed.”