All five of the top players in the single-family mortgage servicing business reported slight de-clines in their portfolios during the second quarter, according to an exclusive Inside Mortgage Finance ranking and market analysis. As a group, the top five participants reported $3.661 trillion in mortgage servicing at the end of June, an 0.7 percent decline from the previous quarter. Although the Federal Reserve’s official tally of home mortgage debt outstanding ... [Includes two data charts]

The U.S. Treasury Department this week called for a major technology push in financial markets that includes big upgrades in government mortgage-insurance programs. While most of the proposals could be accomplished by the agencies themselves, they also require funding from Congress. A new Treasury report backed Trump administration proposals to fund FHA technology up-grades, some of which could be used to expand digitalization of loan files. Funding legislation on ...

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac generated a combined $6.96 billion in net income during the second quarter of 2018, down from $7.19 billion in the first three months of the year. While Fannie posted a solid 4.6 percent quarterly increase, hitting $4.46 billion in the most recent period, Freddie’s net income was down 14.5 percent from the first quarter. At the midway point in 2018, both government-sponsored enterprises were way ahead of where they were in the first six months of last year ...

The report makes more than 80 recommendations related to fintech and nonbank financial policy.

SG’s Justin Mahoney estimated that lenders participating in the panel were backed by $10 billion of capital aimed at expanded-credit products…

HUD has been trying unsuccessfully to obtain authority from Congress to charge a similar fee to modernize its aging information technology systems…

Once the $1.6 billion is upstreamed to Treasury, Freddie will have an account surplus of $42.4 billion...

FHA officials are worried about rising concentrations of higher-risk loan characteristics…

In response to IG Report, FHFA Director Mel Watt said he agrees to “both” the recommendations made by IG Laura Wertheimer and will implement them…

Lenders will be asking the Department of Housing and Urban Development to clarify the eligibility of borrowers with deferred immigration status for an FHA-insured loan. A mortgage industry trade group is currently drafting a letter on “a series of technical FHA handbook recommendations,” including greater clarity on loan applications submitted by borrowers registered under the government’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. DACA status was offered to children who were brought illegally into the U.S. by their parents or guardians but have been in the country for most of their lives. The program was created by the Obama administration as a way for recipients to work legally in the country while Congress could agree on what to do with them. The program faces uncertainty after President Trump rescinded it in September last year as part of his administration’s zero-tolerance immigration ...