Nonbank servicers would be subject to increased capital requirements and scrutiny under standards proposed last week by state regulators. Many parts of the proposal are similar to standards established by federal regulators, though there are some nuances for non-agency mortgages. “By relying upon existing standards and generally accepted business practices, we hope to minimize regulatory burden for small, less complex firms, while still incorporating a ...

Originations of loans that don’t meet standards for qualified mortgages have been off to a slow start but officials at Impac Mortgage Holdings suggest that non-QM lending is poised for growth. Joseph Tomkinson, Impac’s chairman and CEO, said the government-sponsored enterprises’ dominance of mortgage originations has limited non-QM originations. “We knew going into this that it would be a slow growth,” he said this week during a call with investors ...

Home-equity loan holdings by banks and thrifts have largely held steady in terms of performance while declining slightly in balance during the past year, according to the Inside Mortgage Finance Bank Mortgage Database. Banks and thrifts held $982.99 billion in home-equity lines of credit, HELOC commitments and closed-end second liens as of the end of the fourth quarter of 2014. The holdings declined by 0.8 percent compared with the previous quarter ... [Includes one data chart]

Last week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on two cases that could have significant ramifications for how second liens are handled when a borrower has negative equity. Both of the cases involve Bank of America arguing on behalf of second-lien lenders and holders. “The Supreme Court’s resolution of the BofA v. Caulkett and BofA v. Toledo-Cardona will either ratify the trend of other circuits, which would benefit junior lenders, or overturn it, which would favor homeowners and first-lien mortgagees,” according to lawyers at ...

Large bank servicers significantly reduced their use of principal reduction loan modifications in the past year, according to new data from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Principal reduction mods – which are largely limited to non-agency mortgages – were used in 6.5 percent of the loan mods completed in the fourth quarter of 2014 by eight large bank servicers tracked by the OCC. In the fourth quarter of 2013, large bank servicers employed principal reduction on ...

Non-qualified-mortgages accounted for 1.8 percent of mortgages originated in the fourth quarter of 2014 by 22 lenders surveyed by the National Association of Realtors. NAR noted that most of the lenders in the survey don’t portfolio their originations, which could skew the non-QM share significantly lower compared with lenders that hold non-QMs in portfolio. Some 5.0 percent of originations by lenders surveyed by NAR in the third quarter of 2014 were non-QMs ... [Includes three briefs]

Tomkinson plans to increase CashCall’s licensing by an additional 30 states within 60 days.

To understand the plight of the publicly traded REO vendor, you first have to understand where it came from...

ICBA also suggested extending QM exceptions to more community banks by raising the threshold number of loans small lenders can originate each year.

Reliance recently was approved for credit by a Wall Street wholesale lender that does 10 percent down, no-mortgage insurance loans...