The six, including Sen. Mark Warner, D-VA, and Mike Crapo, R-ID, are seeking additional information on such things as the role mortgage insurers play in credit risk...

One problem with the (latest) refi boom ending is that some loan officers working at net branches start getting nervous and begin seeking better product menus elsewhere...

After being indicted for loan fraud in 2012, Abacus Federal Savings Bank was acquitted of grand larceny and conspiracy charges last week that stemmed from a case brought by the New York District Attorney’s office that involved Fannie Mae. The small Manhattan-based bank, which primarily serves Chinese-Americans in the New York region, was accused of mortgage fraud and falsifying documents and then selling those faulty mortgages to Fannie from 2005 to 2010. Following a four-month trial and nine days of deliberations, a New York jury acquitted...

During May Quicken ranked second among all GSE sellers with 68.2 percent of its business going to Fannie Mae.

According to exclusive figures compiled by Inside Mortgage Finance, BofA is the second largest player in second liens at $139.1 billion in holdings.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac issued $74.10 billion of single-family mortgage-backed securities during May, down 8.0 percent from April, a new Inside the GSEs analysis reveals. The purchase-mortgage market picked up some last month, but not enough to offset a sharp 15.7 percent drop in the volume of refinance loans securitized by the GSEs. Purchase-mortgage business was up 7.2 percent from April and reached a combined $28.25 billion – the highest monthly volume since the end of last year’s homebuying season in October. For the first five months of 2015, purchase-mortgage activity totaled $105.15 billion, up 19.0 percent from the same period last year. Most of the big gain in overall GSE business has come from refinancing, which is up 94.4 percent on a...(charts included)

In a move to level the playing field and increase liquidity in the market, Freddie Mac has done away with the $20 fee to use Loan Prospector, the oldest of its suite of lender tools, effective this week. In a letter that went out to Freddie customers last month, the GSE noted it was “eliminating financial barriers to our tools.” Christina Boyle, Freddie’s senior vice president of single-family sales, said since the LP underwriting tool was introduced in 1997 the GSEs have added additional tools, especially within the last couple of years, and plan to introduce more in the future. “The only tool that had a cost associated with it was Loan Prospector and it was sort of a...

Gross new issuance of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae single-family MBS declined by 6.3 percent from April to May, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS ranking and analysis. The agencies produced $113.46 billion of new single-family MBS last month. Though down from April, it was still significantly higher than at any time in 2014, when production averaged just $77.46 billion per month. The key to the drop-off in May was...[Includes two data tables]

Though down from April, it was still significantly higher than at any time in 2014, when production averaged just $77.46 billion per month.

With interest rates rising again, the future looks somewhat cloudy for real estate investment trusts that invest in MBS, a situation that investors have grown accustomed to the past few years. According to figures compiled by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, the 28 mortgage investing REITs tracked by the firm had a combined market capitalization rate of $47.8 billion at the end of May, a slight drop from a year ago when the tally was $49.0 billion. Then again, not all of the 28 are...