Meanwhile, bank whole loan portfolios have been increasing – largely because of the resurgence of jumbo mortgage originations, along with the recovery in home-equity lending.

The improved numbers suggest that the industry’s fears those rules would crush or even depress the market somewhat were overblown.

A group of 13 publicly traded lenders reported a combined $1.72 billion in production and secondary marketing income for the second quarter.

Thanks to booming originations the past few months – which should translate into higher guaranty fee income – Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are likely to post their strongest profits of the year in the third quarter, according to interviews conducted by Inside Mortgage Finance this week. But it’s not just higher loan production that should allow profits to soar – it’s the fact that the yield on the 10-year Treasury now stands at 1.69 percent, 21 basis points higher than June 30. The 10-year rate is...

Founded by former Goldman Sachs executive Donald Mullen, Pretium Partners bills itself as a specialized investment management firm with roughly $6.5 billion of assets under management.

One mortgage CEO who runs a California-based shop told IMF his firm recently was in a pinch and paid a $1,500 “rush fee” to an appraiser to get a deal done on time.

Freddie expects originations to hit $2.0 trillion this year, a 14.3 percent sequential improvement…

The privately held Stearns Lending is already “offering mortgage banking services” to the homebuilder’s customers…

Margaret Sweeny, the judge presiding over the case, is growing increasingly frustrated with the government’s attempt to keep documents out of the public domain

So, what’s wrong with banks and financial service companies offering sales quotas? Nothing at all, if...