Two Harbors is starting to offer “expanded credit” mortgages via its conduit, including allowing for lower credit scores and higher loan-to-value ratios.

Conforming-jumbos accounted for almost 10 percent of GSE business on single-unit properties in the first half of this year...

Freddie CEO Don Layton noted that, “G-fees now account for more than 40 percent of income and is becoming a growing revenue source.”

PIMCO stressed that the “Wells Notice” is neither a formal allegation of wrongdoing nor a finding that any law was violated.

Lenders One, by the way, is looking for a new CEO. Its former chief executive, Jeff McGuiness, left back in June...

Clayton Holdings noted that 75.9 percent of the mortgages were originated via the retail channel with the balance coming through loan brokers.

Ginnie Mae said new MBS issuers need to gain some experience in the agency’s program before they are allowed to do servicing transfers, but some newly approved issuers have attempted to do so. Roy Hormuth, director of single-family securitization at Ginnie Mae, said there has been some misconception among new issuers about doing a co-issuance program in their first month in the Ginnie program despite the fact that they are not ready for it. New issuers must first demonstrate that they can successfully manage the servicing themselves before they can transfer servicing immediately, he said. In a co-issuance transaction, a company sells...

ARM MBS production by Fannie and Freddie in the first half of 2015 was down 20.1 percent from a year ago.

Heavy refinance activity in the first half of 2015 caused a significant shift in the kinds of single-family MBS produced by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae. Issuance of MBS backed by adjustable-rate mortgages has dropped sharply in 2015, and ARMs haven’t had much of a presence for years. ARM MBS production by Fannie and Freddie in the first half of 2015 was down 20.1 percent from a year ago. The drop in Ginnie ARM securitization was less severe, 18.3 percent, but ARMs accounted for an even smaller share of overall production (1.7 percent) at Ginnie than the 2.9 percent share they had in government-sponsored enterprise MBS. Oddly, the heavy refinance market in the first half of 2015 did not appear...[Includes two data tables]

The U.S. Court of Federal Claims ordered the Department of the Treasury to release all discovery documents pertaining to the conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac last week in connection with one of the shareholder lawsuits challenging the government’s seizure of earnings generated by the two government-sponsored enterprises. The ruling in Fairholme Funds v. The United States prevents the Treasury from withholding documents it argued are privileged and designated as “protected information.” The shareholders said...