More than half of FHA-insured loans analyzed for material defects have been mitigated over a 12-month period, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s latest quarterly loan-review analysis. Approximately 31,396 loans were analyzed over four quarters for possible defects, beginning in the third quarter of 2017 and ending the second quarter of 2018. Approximately 59.8 percent of the reviewed loans were initially deemed unacceptable. HUD data showed that most, 54.1 percent, of the loans reviewed have been successfully mitigated. The report provides a quarter-by-quarter snapshot of the FHA’s Loan Review System results. Net defects represent outcomes after lenders have implemented methods and techniques to mitigate or remediate the initial findings. Of the reviewed loans, 24.7 percent were conforming while 15.5 percent were found to be deficient. About 0.2 percent of loans were ...

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa earlier this month granted preliminary approval of an $11.2 million settlement in a proposed class-action against national bank JPMorgan Chase. According to the complaint filed in 2016, Chase charged and collected interest on FHA-insured loans that paid off early. Chase was either the lender or the servicer of the loans. The lawsuit, Audino et al. v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, alleges that the bank breached the promissory notes underlying the class’s FHA-insured home loans when it collected post-payment interest without providing disclosures to borrowers who made a prepayment inquiry, request for payoff figures, or tender of prepayment. Plaintiffs allege that the bank did not use the proper FHA form to provide the disclosures to consumers. Chase denies any wrongdoing and neither admits nor concedes any actual or potential fault or liability. The bank also denies it was ...

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in a few days are expected to report second-quarter results that likely will top earnings of the prior period when they posted a combined net profit of $6.5 billion, according to an analysis by Inside MBS & ABS.

As GSE investor James Fenkner put it: “Yes, the U.S. Treasury will be cashing in again nicely next week.”

In a potentially significant shift, Wells Fargo has set aside $507.0 million in mortgages for inclusion in a non-agency mortgage-backed security. Wells is the top jumbo lender and some industry analysts suggest that the jumbo MBS market won’t rebound until banks like Wells stop retaining production in portfolio. Wells said loans designated as held-for-sale for a future MBS are nonconforming mortgages that would have otherwise been stored in its portfolio. Although no other details about ...

Both FHA and VA saw measurable declines in the number of seriously delinquent loans during the second quarter, although early-stage default rates were up slightly. A new Inside FHA/VA Lending analysis of Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities data found timely payments being made for 93.6 percent of FHA loans and 96.7 percent of VA loans at the end of June. Those numbers were off slightly from the first quarter, when seasonal factors typically lead to the lowest delinquency rates of the year. The increase in late payments was concentrated in loans that were one or two months overdue. There were 419,366 FHA and VA loans in this category at the end of June, up 13.5 percent from the end of March. They represented 4.13 percent of total FHA and VA loans in Ginnie MBS. FHA delinquency rates were substantially higher than those in the VA program, and the number of early-stage delinquencies ... [Charts]

An estimated $445.0 billion of first-lien home loans were originated during the second quarter, an 18.7 percent sequential gain…

As the merger with PHH moves closer, Ocwen continues to bleed red ink...

Chris Boyle, chief client officer at Freddie Mac: “I don’t know how half of you make money.”

Some MSR investors are suffering from "buyer exhaustion," said one deal maker...