When it comes to the new QM rule lenders are operating from a position of fear. You can bet that mortgage attorneys in the Washington DC area have racked up the billable hours, holding their clients’ hands and supplying legal advice as the clock strikes midnight.

MGIC's stock is trading near a 52-week high of $8.82 a share. The company, like the rest of the sector, is anxiously waiting on new capital-to-risk standards from FHFA.

The mergers-and-acquisitions market is expected to be robust this year thanks to falling loan production, which likely will force weaker players in the mortgage industry to align with stronger partners. But now there’s another reason why M&A activity could be brisk: new servicing rules from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. According to industry officials and Fitch Ratings, new servicing rules will drive up compliance costs for all servicers, but smaller players – including community banks and nonbanks – could see their profits erode as they increase spending to stay compliant. In a new report, Fitch writes...

State attorneys general and officials at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau suggest that their settlement in December with Ocwen Financial doesn’t end their quest to reform the industry. “We are not out of the woods yet, and we will not be until all mortgage servicers understand that they must step up and toe the line,” said Richard Cordray, the director of the CFPB. The top five servicers have now agreed...

With a handful of pivotal mortgage lending and servicing rules from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau going live at the end of this week, industry representatives have been readying themselves to cross the threshold while not quite certain about how complete compliance is going to be or how much access to mortgage credit might be crimped. Of the four rules that kick in on Jan. 10 – those dealing with ability-to-repay/qualified mortgages, loan originator compensation, mortgage servicing, and high-cost mortgages – clearly the ATR rule continues to consume most of the oxygen in the room. One of the biggest points of uncertainty has to do...

The irony cannot be missed: the mortgage insurance sector is profitable again, but its trade group likely will fold.

However, a year-over-year look at the data shows a much poorer performance across the board, with overall grievances up 42 percent at Dec. 31, 2013, versus year-end 2012.

Among other things, Fitch sees the compliance/cost squeeze leading to a wave of industry consolidation in the mortgage servicing industry.

The sale was disclosed in a new SEC filing. The MSRs are backed by $10.8 billion of Ginnie Mae product.

One mortgage executive had this to say about the W.J. Bradley case: “This is fascinating for the implications of whether the LO or the company owns the customer. As you know, LOs have their little black books (or thumb drives) of all their customers and their information."