Based on what Freddie's Layton said, one might think that going forward, the GSEs might barely break even. Maybe that’s why the GSEs – and not necessarily Mel Watt – want to hike their guaranty fees…

Ocwen's share price fell 7 percent on the day, moving closer to its 52-week low of $33.54. Its high is a mouth-watering $60.18. In other words, its market cap has been almost halved.

Major contributors to the jumbo MBS include New Penn Financial with a 25.5 percent share, Prospect Mortgage and Prospect Lending with a combined 20.4 percent share and Quicken Loans with a 15.5 percent share.

A new trade group is showing true love for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Also, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is giving lenders some breathing room on the Qualified Mortgage/Ability-to-Repay rule.

One of the boldest underwriting moves was taken by TD Bank, which recently announced a portfolio loan that has a downpayment requirement as low as 3 percent.

The current average interest rate on the mortgages is 3.7 percent. Some 64.3 percent of the loans are structured with graduated payments while the rest are fixed-rate mortgages.

Jumbo MBS issuers typically acquire their loans from a variety of sources. However, only three lenders contributed mortgages to each of the four jumbo MBS issued during the first quarter: Guaranteed Rate, PrimeLending and RPM Mortgage.

“The examiner-in-charge apparently thought that the owner was lying, and the CFPB now wants to question him under oath,” principal Joe Garrett writes in a note to his clients.

Servicer-advance rates on vintage non-agency MBS have been up and down in recent quarters, showing further variances based on the servicer and issuer. The fluctuations have made it difficult to project valuations for certain securities, but industry analysts suggest that as mortgage performance continues to improve, servicer-advance rates will stabilize. The rate at which servicers advanced missed borrower payments on mortgages in non-agency MBS decreased slightly on a quarterly basis in the first quarter of 2014 after a gain the previous quarter, according to Fitch Ratings. Pooling and servicing agreements for non-agency MBS require servicers to continue making advance payments until the payments are deemed non-recoverable. Non-agency MBS values are...

At one shop based in the Midwest there’s unconfirmed talk of loan officers who haven’t been paid for months, unpaid leases and top executives who were on vacation as volumes collapsed.