Bank of America retained 94% of its mortgage originations in the fourth quarter of 2019, a much higher retention rate than other big banks. Officials at the bank said BofA’s loans offer better yields than MBS.

The CFPB is considering eliminating the DTI ratio metric when determining the QM status of a mortgage and instead basing the designation on the interest rate. The proposal was met with mixed reactions.

Fix-and-flip loans differ in many ways from traditional mortgages. The loans are often exempt from various regulations.

Velocity completes IPO; losses on Angel Oak’s MBS temporary; Radian sells Clayton; Provident Bank acquires non-agency warehouse lender; GSF Mortgage launches jumbo product; Customers Bank takes a loss.

The lender plans to raise around $100 million through an initial public offering of shares. Velocity funded about $1.0 billion of originations in 2019, focused on residential investment and small commercial properties.

Anchor Loans and LendingHome are the largest lenders operating in the fix-and-flip space. An analysis of the most recent HMDA data suggests the firms are neck and neck in originations of short-term loans. (Includes data chart.)

LendSure launches bridge loan product; Sprout hires Ron Krueger as senior vice president; DBRS Morningstar outlines rating criteria for reverse mortgages; Fitch upgrades its servicer ratings of BSI Financial Services.

A non-agency MBS from Provident suggests better execution for GSE-eligible mortgages in the non-agency market. But analysts don’t expect a flood of non-agency MBS with GSE-eligible loans.

The bank has suspended a non-QM loan program due to issues with policies and practices. The program accounted for the bulk of the firm’s originations.