Industry representatives who, since the 1990s, have been imagining a world of electronic mortgage transactions and related documentation took renewed inspiration from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s announcement this week of a pilot project aimed at using the latest in technology to diminish the “pain points” of the closing process. Brian Webster, the originations program manager for mortgage markets at the CFPB, said last week that the bureau had identified 1,480 such sore spots. But during a public forum held this week, the CFPB focused on a handful of primary problems it said consumers have with the way mortgage closings are handled in the American market. First, they feel...

As for details, a spokesman for the company said Ellie isn’t talking about the topic at this time. In an email exchange with IMFnews, mortgage technology consultant Tony Garritano of Progress in Lending called the whole episode “very bizarre”…

Some stakeholders said they called the firm’s investor relations department about the latest probe and were told the firm would be saying more about the matter when it reports first quarter earnings.

The conditional prepayment rate for prime jumbo, Alt-A and subprime loans dropped to 14.7 percent, 10.3 percent and 8.8 percent, respectively, in the first quarter of 2014, according to the ratings service.

The strong improvement from last year was driven largely by a 46.8 percent plunge in grievances about loan modifications.

According to figures compiled by Inside Mortgage Finance, MGIC ranks second nationwide in terms of MI policies-in-force. Only Radian ranks higher.

Mortgage-banking income at nine major banks declined by 27.7 percent in the first quarter of 2014 compared with the previous quarter, according to an analysis by Inside Mortgage Trends.

The total past-due rate on mortgages has declined in almost every quarter since the second quarter of 2011, helped by increasing home prices. However, not all vintages are performing in-step, as delinquencies are starting to increase on loans originated in 2004 and before.

A new report by Fannie Mae finds that second-home mortgage market activity is in the midst of a strong rebound, representing a small yet significant corner of the mortgage market.

ICYMI: Late last week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released its guide to completing its integrated disclosure forms under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act and the Truth in Lending Act.