Johnson-Crapo requires 12 percent mortgage insurance if the LTV exceeds 80 percent but is no more than 85 percent; 25 percent MI if the LTV exceeds 85 percent but no more than 90 percent; and 30 percent MI if the LTV exceeds 90 percent.

Charge-offs in the credit-card ABS sector reached a new low in the first quarter of 2014, due mostly to a steady decline in delinquencies and lower bankruptcy rates, according to Fitch Ratings. Loss rates continued to break new records heading into 1Q14, falling to 2.89 percent during the latest March distribution period, even as average charge-offs dropped to a record 3.00 percent for 1Q14 from 3.04 percent in 4Q13. “This marks 15 consecutive quarters of improvement and is approximately 25 percent lower year-over-year,” said Fitch Ratings Credit Card ABS Group Managing Director Michael Dean and Director Herman Poon in a new report. Late payments also fell...

Did someone in the mortgage industry actually ask one of the GSEs recently to increase the 25 basis point servicing fee that it pays to residential servicers?

Although Garrett declined to comment further on the matter, attorneys that represent lenders before the CFPB were happy to share their opinions on the "under oath" issue.

Ocwen's share price fell 7 percent on the day, moving closer to its 52-week low of $33.54. Its high is a mouth-watering $60.18. In other words, its market cap has been almost halved.

Industry officials who have studied the issue contend that the Treasury Department does not have the legal right to give Fannie and Freddie back to their junior and common shareholders. In short, it would take an act of Congress.

The TV ad we viewed is so glowing in praise that one might think the GSEs themselves produced it.

Although the Johnson-Crapo housing finance reform bill has little chance of becoming law this year, comments on the legislation submitted to the Treasury Department by the Federal Housing Finance Agency strongly suggest that the current regulator of the government-sponsored enterprises wants its reincarnation to have expanded oversight powers. Industry officials, lobbyists and executives tracking the bill note that if the FHFA has its way, the new Federal Mortgage Insurance Corp. will become a supervisor of nonbanks that originate loans slated for securitization. Currently, the FHFA serves...

Mortgage lenders scored a victory this week when the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced it will grant lenders a “right to cure” home loans that inadvertently exceed the 3 percent points-and-fees cap for qualified mortgages. “The bureau is proposing to allow for a post-consummation cure of points-and-fees overages only where the loan was originated in good faith as a qualified mortgage to ensure that the cure provision is available only to creditors who make inadvertent errors in the origination process and to prevent creditors from exploiting the cure provision by intentionally exceeding the points-and-fees limits,” the agency said. Currently, under the CFPB’s ability-to-repay rule, the points and fees charged to a consumer on a QM loan generally cannot exceed...

Several mid-sized nonbanks that earned a ton of money during the refi boom of the past two years are in the hunt to buy the production assets of other companies, hoping to snatch additional market share away from commercial banks. Moreover, some mortgage advisors that ply their trade in the mergers and acquisitions space believe that unless origination volumes improve rapidly, the “roll-up” of the mortgage industry could be fierce by the end of 2014. According to recent production figures compiled by Inside Mortgage Finance, the residential finance industry is coming off its worst origination quarter in 14 years. Rick Roque, a principal in the boutique advisory firm Menlo Company Global, anticipates...