A veteran player in the jumbo ARM market said one investment bank in particular has “had lots of layoffs.”

An industry source said lenders in the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario housing market are gearing up to petition HUD to recalculate the FHA loan limits in those areas.

Consumer advocate Ralph Nader has spent years demanding satisfaction for GSE shareholders from the Obama administration, regulators and members of Congress.

New Penn Financial accounted for almost 81 percent of mortgages included in the jumbo deal. In the past, the lender’s originations have been securitized by the affiliated Shellpoint Partners.

Industry advisors briefed on the servicing project noted that changing the minimum 25 basis point servicing fee has some firms on edge.

It's nice to know that some lenders are willing to take on risk. Check out the new FHA/VA product from New Penn Financial: a 560 FICO minimum.

Total FHA delinquencies rose slightly while the percentage of seriously delinquent loans remained flat in the fourth quarter of 2013, according to an Inside FHA Lending analysis of FHA servicing data. Data showed delinquencies of 90 days or more remained unchanged at 8.1 percent from the previous quarter even as total FHA delinquencies increased a bit to 15.2 percent from 15.1 quarter over quarter. The share of loans that are 30-60 days behind on their payment also increased to 7.1 percent from 6.9 percent over the same period. As of Dec. 31, FHA servicers had a combined ... [1 chart]

“It’s a utility bill refi,” said Kristian Hanelt, a senior vice president of renewable capital markets at Clean Power Finance, which provides financial services to the solar industry.

The Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee fulfilled investor expectations this week by voting to reduce its support of the financial markets by another $10 billion overall, starting next month. That will reduce its targeted monthly increase in its agency MBS portfolio from $35 billion to “just” $30 billion. With new production of agency MBS falling more quickly than the central bank’s targeted purchases, the Fed may actually be taking a larger chunk of the market. When the Fed announced a $5 billion per month reduction in its MBS growth target in November, actual agency MBS issuance declined by more than twice as much, $11.3 billion, from the previous month. The FOMC said...[Includes one data chart]

Only a handful of FIRREA cases were filed in the first 20 years after enactment of the statute. In the last two years, however, the government has aggressively used FIRREA to target financial institutions for activities related to the origination, rating, securitization and servicing of residential mortgages.