Commercial banks and thrifts continued their years-long retreat from the business of servicing home mortgages for other investors, and some observers are questioning whether nonbanks are strong enough to pick up the slack. As of the end of 2015, banks and thrifts serviced $4.054 trillion of single-family mortgages for other investors, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of call-report data. That was down $84.3 billion, or 2.04 percent ... [Includes one data chart]

As mortgage performance improves, the organization that administers the Homeowner’s Hope Hotline is putting an increased emphasis on helping people qualify for mortgage financing. The Homeownership Preservation Foundation has worked extensively with consumers who suffered problems during the financial crisis but could now be ready to purchase a home. “Boomerang borrowers represent opportunity,” David Berenbaum, the CEO of the Homeownership Preservation Foundation ...

Poor underwriting, rather than the collapse of house prices, more likely caused homeowners to default on their non-agency mortgage loans – a situation that gradually worsened and subsequently caused the country’s worst financial disaster, according to a new report published by University Financial Associates. Subject to a number of caveats, the report’s findings dramatically illustrate the importance of eroding underwriting quality in non-agency mortgage-backed securities ...

The five largest mortgage servicers that got into trouble because of their flawed servicing and foreclosure practices have passed their final test for compliance with the 2012 National Mortgage Settlement, according to the Office of Mortgage Settlement Oversight. The OMSO report summarizes a set of five compliance reports filed by NMS Monitor Joseph Smith with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia for five servicers that were subject to the $25 billion ...

Fannie Mae found that lenders’ profit margin outlook fell steadily throughout 2015 after peaking in the first quarter, even with a strong job market and low interest rates.

Bank of America introduced a new affordable lending program last week that allows 3 percent downpayments and no required reserve funds in most instances. The bank partnered with Freddie Mac and Self-Help Ventures Fund, a Durham, NC-based nonprofit, to offer conforming loans to borrowers whose income doesn’t exceed 100 percent of the area median income. There’s also no private mortgage insurance on the loans as “Self-Help Ventures Fund is taking the first loss position in the event of a loan default through a recourse agreement,” said a Freddie spokesman. The Affordable Loan Solution mortgage was designed to let creditworthy homebuyers who meet specific income limits and other requirements to become homeowners at an affordable entry point, said...

Not only his Beltzman chairman, but his fund owns 19.8 percent of Walter...

Stonegate met its expense reduction goals by discontinuing select operations and shuttering branches...

But the news wasn't all good: After peaking at $280 billion in the third quarter of 2015 – an eight-year high – purchase-mortgage originations tumbled 25 percent in 4Q...

A warehouse executive, whose bank is based on the East Coast, noted that when a nonbank client loses money two quarters in a row, “it triggers certain [warehouse] covenants.”