HomeStreet Bank, a bit player in the jumbo mortgage-backed security market, wants a bigger role and has recently sought assessments from rating services and is working to expand its jumbo originations. Moody's Investors Service announced last week that HomeStreet received an "average" rating as an originator of jumbos. The Northwest bank also has jumbo MBS servicer ratings from Fitch Ratings and Moody's. Terri Silver, a vice president of investor relations and corporate communications ...

An increase in the purchase-mortgage share in new jumbo mortgage-backed securities will benefit investors in the deals, according to Moody's Investors Service. However, the loans are more difficult for lenders to originate than refinance mortgages, and it remains to be seen if investor demand will be high enough to prompt issuance of jumbo MBS. The share of refis in jumbo MBS declined as interest rates rose in 2013. Moody's said the trend is expected to continue this year and noted that ...

Titan Capital Solutions announced this week that it has 65 correspondent jumbo lending clients. The firm is a subsidiary of Titan Lenders and started accepting applications from jumbo correspondents in the first quarter of 2013. TCS said it offers mortgages with balances of up to $1.0 million and allows credit scores as low as 690 and loan-to-value ratios as high as 80 percent. Morgan Stanley has reached an agreement in principle with the Securities and Exchange Commission ... [Includes seven briefs]

The SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance this week suggested a change to proposed Reg AB2 disclosure requirements in an effort to protect the privacy of borrowers whose loans are included in MBS and ABS.

In the fourth quarter of 2013, Redwood issued one jumbo MBS totaling $325 million and completed whole loan sales of $648 million. Officials at the real estate investment trust said Redwood plans to issue a jumbo MBS in March or April.

A spokesman for Ocwen said the company did not like the way the IMFnews story was being “interpreted.” After the story was published early Friday afternoon, Ocwen’s share price began to rise and continued to increase Monday.

Citigroup will not provide representations and warranties for fraud on the MBS and half of the mortgages were originated with stated- or no-documentation.

Mortgage-industry veteran John Robbins has launched a new mortgage cooperative that plans to bundle mortgages for sale into the secondary market and eventually form a conduit through which it hopes to securitize non-QM loans. “We’re going after best execution,” Robbins told Inside MBS & ABS. Of course, the venture – aptly titled The Mortgage Collaborative – is...

Stakeholders continued to express concern over certain provisions in a draft model law that would be used as an overlay to, rather than a replacement of, existing state foreclosure laws. While many provisions of the current draft of the Home Foreclosure Procedures Act are right on track, several other provisions would raise the cost of lender compliance and make the origination and servicing of residential mortgages more difficult, warned stakeholders. “Sensible reform of the foreclosure process should not include...

Although some regulators have anxiety problems with nonbank servicers, Fannie Mae apparently does not. Meanwhile, a large mortgage vendor M&A deal could be revealed late Friday.