Caliber Home Loans was assessed by Moody’s Investors Service as an originator of “expanded-credit” mortgages last week. Caliber is the first lender to receive a rating from Moody’s for expanded-credit mortgages, which could pave the way for the first rated non-agency mortgage-backed security that includes non-qualified mortgages. The rating service defined Caliber’s expanded-credit mortgages as non-agency mortgages that are not prime jumbo loans. Moody’s said ...

Underwriting standards on the four prime non-agency mortgage-backed securities issued in the first quarter of 2016 loosened marginally compared with the typical prime jumbo MBS issued in recent years, according to a new analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. The combined loan-to-value ratio on prime non-agency MBS issued in the first quarter of 2016 averaged 69.8 percent. That was somewhat higher than the average combined ... [Includes one data chart]

New reports suggest that government-backed mortgage markets provide better stability for the economy, while investors in non-agency mortgage-backed securities were faulted for abandoning the market after the start of the financial crisis. A paper published last week by economists at the Federal Reserve found that areas with high levels of participation from the government-sponsored enterprises and FHA had relatively lower unemployment rates, higher home sales ...

First Republic Bank announced this week that it increased its minimum wage to $20 per hour. The bank, which focuses on originating jumbo mortgages, also introduced a purchase-mortgage product for borrowers in underserved minority neighborhoods. Officials at First Republic were unwilling to elaborate on the new initiatives beyond details provided in a press release. “First Republic has an active and significant commitment to building ... [Includes nine briefs]

Ginnie Mae is pulling the plug on its long-running Targeted Lending Initiative because it is no longer having an impact on overall lending in underserved urban and rural areas. TLI volume has seen more decline than uptick in recent years despite its offer of a Ginnie Mae guaranty fee reduction to encourage lenders to make more loans in underserved communities, according to an agency spokesperson. Reducing the Ginnie Mae guaranty fee lowers lenders’ expenses and, ideally, provides an incentive to increase lending. In 2005, Ginnie Mae extended the TLI to areas hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina, reducing the guaranty fee by as much as 50 percent to spur issuers to originate or purchase mortgage loans in areas where the hurricane inflicted the most damage. At one point, the program had more than 10,000 census tracts that were identified as targeted areas. Other TLI areas included those ...

The evolutionary flow of the slow-growing agency mortgage servicing market continued in the first quarter of 2016 as many of the big names peeled back and fast-growers kept growing, according to a new analysis and ranking by Inside Mortgage Finance. Overall, the agency MSR space expanded by a meager 0.2 percent during the first three months of 2016. Slow growth is typical of heavier refinance periods, and refi business at Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae was up a combined 1.9 percent from the fourth quarter. Although purchase mortgages accounted for half of the first-quarter market, the volume of such loans securitized by the three agencies was down 12.6 percent from the previous period. Ginnie continued...[Includes two data tables]

For mortgage bankers, it was another trying week in TRID purgatory: A mid-sized nonbank exited the correspondent jumbo market because of concerns over legal liability and separately it appeared industry trade groups have given up hope that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will issue any type of formal guidance on cures. Meanwhile, the TRID scratch-and-dent market continues to hum along and the consumer watchdog agency has begun examining residential lenders for compliance with the integrated disclosure rule. “TRID exams have commenced...

When interest rates take an unexpected dive – as they did in the first quarter – it can wreak havoc on servicing assets as banks and nonbanks try to calculate a fair market value for their residential receivables. According to interviews conducted by Inside Mortgage Finance and based on a compilation of values by Piper Jaffray, certain megabanks assigned some of the lowest values in years to their portfolios during the first quarter of this year. Bank of America, for instance, which usually ranks third among all servicers, assigned...[Includes one data table]

Wells Fargo was the top seller to the GSEs in the first quarter with $22.75 billion, followed by Quicken Loans ($11.33 billion) and JPMorgan Chase ($6.87 billion).

It’s expected that Blackstone/Finance of America will target borrowers who are self-employed and have a harder time qualifying for conventional mortgages.