The reverse mortgage lending industry has asked Senate lawmakers to expand the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s authority to strengthen its oversight of the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage program. Testifying before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs recently, Peter Bell, president of the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association, said it is crucial for HUD to be able to act swiftly to reduce the risk the program poses to the FHA insurance fund. Bell said HUD needs to implement changes “in a matter of months, not years” and for that to happen, it would need authority from Congress to ...

Warehouse banks that extend credit to nonbank residential lenders ended the fourth quarter with almost $40 billion in commitments on their books, their best quarter of the year, according to exclusive survey figures compiled by Inside Mortgage Finance. The top five warehouse banks – which control about half of the estimated total market – had $19.9 billion of commitments on their books, a 4 percent improvement from the third quarter. Compared to the end of March, commitments were up 37 percent. Wells Fargo, the largest buyer from correspondents, ranked...[Includes one data chart]

Credit Suisse has adjusted the representations and warranties included in each of its recent non-agency MBS deals, reacting to criticism from investors that the reps and warrants do not meet models set by the American Securitization Forum. While the new jumbo MBS issued by Credit Suisse last week made some improvements on reps and warrants compared with its previous deals, the issuer continues to experiment with somewhat looser standards. “Credit Suisse has introduced several new elements to the rep and warrant structure in recent securitizations which has caused some diverging opinions in the securitization community,” according to analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. “While the ASF has provided a starting point with their model reps, it will likely take the market some time to find the right balance between investors and originators.” Issuance from Redwood Trust has been seen...

An investor in Alt A MBS originally issued by Residential Capital Corp. filed suit this week to block Nationstar Mortgage from auctioning nonperforming loans from the MBS pools. Nationstar in mid February began auctioning NPLs on auction.com, according to the complaint filed in the Supreme Court of New York State this week. There are currently two additional auctions totaling some $750 million of NPLs listed on the internet auction site, both believed to be related to Nationstar. The company is...

New Castle and Springleaf are teaming up to buy a huge portfolio of consumer and real estate loans from HSBC.

A former loan trader at Goldman Sachs has launched a new subprime mortgage company offering LTVs as high as 75 percent.

Will a private conventional MBS market ever happen? If GSE g-fees keep rising, yes.

It appears that 80-10-10 loan structures are making a comeback in the market, helping homeowners avoid paying private mortgage insurance.

The American Securitization Forum, a high profile trade group that focuses on MBS issues, is in turmoil with several of its board members quitting.

Citadel Servicing of California has raised $200 million from private investors to originate new residential subprime loans, Inside Mortgage Finance has learned.