A U.S. bankruptcy fudge slapped Bank of America with $45.0 million in punitive damages last week for its handling of a mortgage foreclosure. “Franz Kafka lives,” Judge Christopher Klein wrote in his opinion, citing the author known for writing about complex or illogical situations. “This case reveals that he works at Bank of America.” The lawsuit, Sundquist v. BofA, centers on a jumbo mortgage originated in 2008 by a broker and acquired by Countrywide Home Loans ...

FHA-insured jumbo lending fell slightly in the fourth quarter of 2016 although year-over-year results were a lot better. Production of conforming-jumbo purchase and refinance loans insured by the FHA slipped 0.9 percent in the fourth quarter, a slight bump on the way to an annual jumbo origination total of $26.9billion. Year-over-year, FHA jumbo production was up 5.6 percent from 2015. Conforming-jumbo loans represented 9.8 percent of FHA loans securitized last year, according to data compiled by affiliated newsletter Inside Mortgage Finance. Purchase mortgages comprised 64.9 percent of jumbo loans insured by FHA in 2016 and 98.7 percent were fixed-rate loans. Nonbanks comprised the top five FHA jumbo lenders. Wells Fargo, which closed the year with $423.8 million in FHA jumbo originations, was in sixth place. Quicken Loans led the field with $802.5 million of ... [ Charts ]

New originations of home-equity loans were up 8.0 percent in 2016 from the previous year, but the market peaked early and ended with consecutive quarterly declines in production, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance ranking and analysis. Lenders originated an estimated $197.6 billion of home-equity lines of credit and closed-end second mortgages last year. It was the strongest output since 2008, but it was not enough to offset the years-long erosion of second-mortgage debt. At the end of 2016, the supply of outstanding home-equity loans fell...[Includes three data tables]

Production of Home Equity Conversion Mortgage loans was down in 2016 with an estimated $14.9 billion originated last year, compared to $16.0 billion the previous year. Year-over-year, total HECM volume fell 6.4 percent. Purchase loans accounted for 85.9 percent of FHA-insured reverse mortgages produced over the 12-month period. Originations, however, rose by 8.0 percent in the fourth quarter from the previous quarter due to a spike in HECM lending in December. Purchase HECMs with an adjustable rate appeared to be the product of choice among HECM borrowers in 2016. American Advisors Group continued to dominate the market, closing 2016 with $2.1 billion in HECM originations for a 14.0 percent market share. One Reverse Mortgage was the second top HECM producer of the year with $855 million, while Reverse Mortgage Funding was in third place with $649.8 million. Liberty Home Equity Solutions hung on ... [ 1 chart ]

Affiliates of New Residential Investment and CarVal Investors packaged re-performing mortgages with a total unpaid principal balance of more than $1 billion for two separate MBS that will be issued this month. There’s plenty of supply of seasoned mortgages in the secondary market, but higher interest rates could weaken demand, according to industry analysts. An affiliate of CarVal Investors priced a $395.3 million non-agency MBS late last week with more variety in collateral than the typical MBS backed by seasoned mortgages. In addition to re-performing mortgages, Mill City Mortgage Loan Trust 2017-1 included some home-equity lines of credit and newly originated mortgages. Vintage HELOCs accounted...

The retail channel remains the predominant source of jumbo originations, according to an Inside Nonconforming Markets analysis of survey responses collected by Inside Mortgage Finance. Among the top jumbo lenders, more than four out of five jumbos originated during the fourth quarter of 2016 were through the retail channel. The 81.6 percent retail share of jumbo originations was up from a 79.3 percent share in the fourth quarter of 2015 ... [Includes one data chart]

For the second time in five months, mortgages aggregated by Bank of America will be included in a jumbo mortgage-backed security. In both instances, BofA has sold loans to New Penn Financial, with an affiliate of New Penn issuing the MBS. The $280.38 million Shellpoint Co-Originator Trust 2017-1 is scheduled to close at the end of this month. Mortgages aggregated by BofA account for 98.7 percent of the dollar volume of the MBS, according to presale reports by Kroll Bond Rating Agency and ...

Bank and thrift holdings of first-lien portfolios continued to increase at the end of 2016, according to an Inside Nonconforming Markets analysis of bank and thrift call reports. Banks and thrifts held $1.93 trillion in first liens at the end of the year, up 0.4 percent from the third quarter of 2016 and up 3.4 percent from the end of 2015. New additions to the portfolios are generally jumbo mortgages along with some loans eligible for sale to the government- ... [Includes one data chart]

Galton Funding, a new entrant to the jumbo mortgage-backed security market, allows for jumbos with somewhat looser underwriting criteria than typically used in jumbo MBS issued in recent years. The company noted that its programs are aimed at “underserved” borrowers. Moody’s Investors Service said Galton has two prime loan programs: A+ and A. Both allow for more lenient underwriting than other prime jumbo programs and instead align in some instances with ...

More than half of Redwood Trust’s 406 sellers have started offering the company’s “expanded-prime” jumbo product. Company officials said they’re aiming for the Choice product to account for 15.0 percent to 20.0 percent of Redwood’s jumbo volume this year. The firm launched the Choice product in April, allowing mortgages with debt-to-income ratios up to 49.9 percent, loan-to-value ratios up to 90.0 percent or credit scores as low as 661. Choice mortgages tend to have LTV ratios ...