The Department of Veterans Affairs has called upon holders of VA-guaranteed single-family mortgage loans to extend forbearance to distressed homeowners affected by the severe storms and flooding in Louisiana and Texas. In recent guidance, the VA described measures VA lenders may employ to provide relief to disaster-stricken homeowners. The agency recommended careful counseling to see whether borrower difficulties are related to the storms or have been the result of other events. If appropriate, prepayments may be reapplied to cure or prevent a borrower default. Servicers also may consider loan modification without VA’s prior approval if certain regulatory conditions are met. Although the holder of the loan is ultimately responsible for determining when to initiate foreclosure or complete termination action, the VA has requested a 90-day freeze on ...

Fannie’s guaranty fee income for single-family and multifamily segments nudged up 0.9 percent from the fourth quarter, while Freddie’s was up 0.4 percent.

U.S. Bank was the only top-five servicer that has been growing its portfolio…

Two Harbors was the first – and thus far only – firm to issue a jumbo MBS with loans subject to the TRID mortgage disclosure rule.

Earlier this year, management signaled that the nonbank is considering its options...

When it comes to stock price performance, it’s been an ugly year so far in 2016 for most of the nation’s publicly traded nonbanks, especially if their names happen to be Nationstar Mortgage, Ocwen Financial, PHH Corp. and Walter Investment Management Corp. And you might as well throw Stonegate Mortgage into that club as well. According to figures compiled by Inside Mortgage Finance, these five firms have seen declines in their stock prices – as measured against their highs for the past year – ranging from 52.3 percent (Nationstar) to 82.1 percent (Ocwen). Two other nonbanks whose share prices haven’t suffered as much are...[Includes one data table]

An unanticipated decline in interest rates soured the hedging bets placed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during the first quarter of 2016, leading to sharply lower net income at the two government-sponsored enterprises. The two GSEs booked a combined $7.37 billion in net derivative losses for the first quarter that nearly washed out income from their core businesses. Since 2012, when the two GSEs became profitable again, they have booked huge $23.46 billion in hedging losses. “As we’ve said for over a year now, our quarterly financial results are...

The exam outlook is even worse for nonbank mortgage servicers..

When are falling rates a bad thing? Answer: When you own a ton of mortgage servicing rights.

A past study commissioned by FEMA estimated that the areas designated as special flood areas will increase by 45 percent by the end of this century. In coastal areas, such designations would increase by 55 percent.