Although some regulators have anxiety problems with nonbank servicers, Fannie Mae apparently does not. Meanwhile, a large mortgage vendor M&A deal could be revealed late Friday.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Inspector General wants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to penalize lenders for delays in repurchasing loans via an aggressive application of buyback late fees. The FHFA issued a “contract harmonization directive” in January 2012 calling for the two GSEs to develop “consistent timelines and collection standards for fees and penalties and additional types of penalties and remedies.”

Proprietary loan modifications, the dominant form of loss mitigation, have declined significantly in the past year, while activity in the Home Affordable Modification Program has remained relatively level, according to the Hope Now alliance. Some 137,879 loan mods were completed in the fourth quarter of 2013, down 24.0 percent from the previous quarter and a 44.0 percent decline from the fourth quarter of 2012. Eric Selk, executive director of Hope Now, said the decline in mods “closely tracks” with ...

Large mortgage vendors are expected to buy smaller firms this year "and fit them to their mold," said one industry observer.

So, will banks stop selling MSRs because of the CFPB? Don’t bet on it. The sales process will just take longer.

Firms that evaluate mortgage servicing rights and facilitate their sales had a record year in 2013 in transaction volume, according to interviews conducted by Inside Mortgage Finance. And although many are expecting a strong year in 2014, the deal volume likely will subside. Still, Interactive Mortgage Advisors, MountainView Servicing Group and Phoenix Capital – among others MSR brokers – are making hay while the sun shines. Combined, the three sold or bought...

Some of the largest servicers could be violating fair-lending laws, according to an analysis by a the Government Accountability Office, while an alphabet soup of federal regulators overseeing fair lending issues appears to be treating servicing concerns like a hot potato. In a report issued late last week, the GAO said its analysis of loan-level data for the four largest servicers participating in the Home Affordable Modification Program suggests that there are fair-lending concerns that merit further examination. While the GAO didn’t identify the servicers, the four largest HAMP servicers are Ocwen Loan Servicing, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America, according to the Treasury. The GAO found...

Two nonbanks among the top five servicers now control almost 9 percent of the residential receivables market. Should regulators be worried? Should the MBA?

One area on the bureau’s short list is compliance under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act.

The survey, conducted through the IMF website, also found that 35 percent of participants plan to sell “some” of their MSRs, but only as needed.