There was a hefty increase in mortgage originations for subprime borrowers with credit scores under 620, most of them FHA loans, according to Equifax. From January through October of 2015, some $50.7 billion of mortgages were originated for borrowers with credit scores below 620, the credit bureau said. That was up 28 percent from the same period in 2014. Equifax attributes this to smarter lending habits. Amy Crew Cutts, Equifax’s chief economist, said while there are many ...

As one M&A advisor noted: "Value is in the eye of the beholder."

Different factions of the mortgage industry are strongly urging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to place its yearend “clarifying letter” on TRID errors into the Federal Register, believing that it would provide stronger legal protection. According to interviews conducted by Inside Mortgage Finance, TRID errors – even minor ones – continue to be a chief reason why certain secondary market investors are rejecting mortgages, in particular non-agency product. The fear for these investors is assignee liability, that they could be sued for TRID errors even though they had nothing to do with the loan’s origination. One paragraph in the Dec. 29 letter from the CFPB to the Mortgage Bankers Association begins...

Impac is working to increase originations of non-QMs as part of an effort to mitigate against reduced refinance volumes.

Another large nonbank enters the space for unsecured consumers loans. A trend in the making?

While most players holding non-agency MBS have seen their investments decline, two types of investors actually increased their holdings...

Although Wells does not own the shares per se, it shows that some of the bank’s wealthier clients are speculating in Ocwen’s stock.

One company that confirmed its interest in scratch-and-dent TRID loans is Mid America Mortgage.

Clean-up calls were recently completed on three jumbo MBS issued by Redwood Trust in 2010 and 2011, marking the first such actions on post-crisis jumbo MBS. While MBS investors can take some losses when clean-up calls are completed, analysts suggest that’s not currently much of a concern for post-crisis jumbo MBS. Holders of clean-up call rights, typically servicers, have an option to purchase the remaining loans in an MBS when the outstanding balance of the deal falls below a certain threshold. Redwood completed...

Fitch Ratings will allow for differences in third-party due diligence practices when rating various types of residential MBS, granting concessions to risk-sharing transactions from the government-sponsored enterprises. The firm released revised master-rating criteria late last week. Among the changes compared with criteria that were released in October was an allowance for differences among non-agency MBS backed by recent originations, transactions related to the GSEs and non-agency MBS backed by seasoned loans. While most jumbo MBS issued in recent years have included third-party due diligence reviews of 100 percent of the loans in a deal, the GSEs’ much larger risk-sharing transactions have been...