So, what’s the biggest impediment to mortgage volumes taking off this spring? According to a new poll from Inside Mortgage Finance, it’s a lack of housing inventory.

Standard & Poor’s is seeking comments on a proposal for assessing operational risk posed by key transaction parties such as servicers in structured finance transactions. The request for comments follows a similar request from S&P in 2011. “We made a number of changes to the previous request for comment in view of the responses we received and our desire to enhance the risk considerations under the proposed operational risk framework,” said Joseph Sheridan, S&P’s criteria officer. “We also expanded the proposal’s scope. Where we believe operational risk could lead to credit instability and a ratings impact, the proposal would call for rating caps that limit the securitization’s maximum potential rating.” The rating service is proposing...

Sources contend that three other top executives also have left Nationstar Mortgage. At press time, Nationstar’s media department had not returned telephone calls and emails on the matter.

More elderly consumers are carrying mortgage debt into retirement, posing greater risk to their financial security, according to a new report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. For an estimated 4.4 million retirees with mortgage debt, making mortgage payments on top of other monthly expenses can be a hardship, the CFPB observed. Consequently, they accrue less home equity than their peers did a decade ago. Less home equity means less accumulated net wealth for ...

All seven active mortgage insurance companies reported a total of $31.34 billion of new primary insurance written during the first quarter, according to calculations from Inside Mortgage Finance.

In trading, Walter was down almost 5 percent on the day. The stock fell to just under $28. Its 52-week low is $24, its high $45.12.

One Stonegate Mortgage watcher we know called the company an “absolute no-brainer short,” noting that when the lender went public “it was overvalued."

PHH Corp. is continuing talks with several potential buyers about its mortgage division but is revealing little information on when it might ultimately announce a deal. In a recent conference call with analysts, company President and CEO Glen Messina would only say that “we’ve been actively engaged in detailed discussions with several interested parties” regarding both PHH Mortgage and its fleet business. Messina would not provide any more color than that. As reported by Inside Mortgage Finance last month, possible buyers include...

In a report released Wednesday morning, the servicing settlement monitor said Green Tree failed eight metrics tested in the second half of 2013.

Richard Smith, chief marketing officer for Ditech, said the mortgages that the company originates will close in Ditech’s name, not in the name of Green Tree.