Prices paid for nonperforming residential loans have continued to rise this year, which is great news for sellers of distressed product, but not so good for buyers. In fact, there are signs that certain buyers are dropping out of the market because returns are getting too low for their tastes. One Midwest-based buyer of NPLs told Inside Mortgage Trends that he recently closed a fund that was banking his acquisitions because investment returns are now in the 9 percent range ...

“When you get guidance, you don’t always like everything you get," said Bob Davis of the American Bankers Association.

Can former FHFA director Ed DeMarco affect the debate on the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? Can anyone?

Freddie Mac could save millions of dollars a year in faulty reimbursement payouts to its servicers by investing additional resources in a wider selection of reviews, according to an audit issued last week by the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Office of Inspector General. In 2013, Freddie reimbursed 460 of its servicers $1.4 billion but identified and denied $126 million in what the IG calls “erroneous” claims. The IG noted that Freddie’s top 10 servicers, relative to total reimbursements, accounted for 87 percent of all reimbursements made by Freddie in 2013. Servicers of Freddie and Fannie Mae loans often maintain...

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau provided fresh guidance on mortgage servicing transfers last month, but lenders say there are still plenty of unresolved issues. In August, the CFPB put out an updated compliance bulletin on mortgage servicing transfers that augments existing guidance from last year to reflect the agency’s complex mortgage servicing regulation, as well as its supervisory and enforcement activities during the last year and a half. Bob Davis, head of mortgage markets, financial management and public policy at the American Bankers Association, said...

The sale of Shelter is one of the largest mortgage M&A deals of the past few months and could mark the beginning of an active second half of industry consolidation.

Analysts at FBR & Co. view the ban as an “earnings issue” because “replacement financing would likely be more expensive than existing financing.”

It appears that PennyMac Financial Services is in the market to buy MSRs...

“The new guys are quickly gaining on the traditional players,” said Ginnie president Ted Tozer. “Some have grown from zero to $5 billion to $10 billion overnight. We’re concerned about their infrastructure and capital.”

The FHA insurance fund received $336 million of the $614 million that JPM agreed to pay…