The market had largely abandoned risky lending products before the QM rule ever kicked in…

Early last year PIMCO still had designs on RoundPoint Mortgage, Charlotte, which ranks 23rd among residential servicers, according to a tally from Inside Mortgage Finance.

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...

The 11 surviving Federal Home Loan Banks posted a significant increase in net income during the fourth quarter of 2015, along with a surprising jump in advances. The Office of Finance reported that the FHLBanks generated $673 million in net income during the fourth quarter, a 39.0 percent increase from the prior period. That brought year-to-date income to $2.850 billion, a 26.6 percent gain from 2014. Non-interest income was up sharply last year in large part because of settlements related to FHLBank investments in soured non-agency mortgage-backed securities, which brought in $688 million in 2015, mostly in the first half of the year. Legal settlements accounted for...

Publicly-traded nonbank mortgage lenders posted erratic results from their mortgage-banking operations during the fourth quarter of 2015. As a group, the nine companies reported a combined $54.08 million in mortgage-banking income for the fourth quarter, a significant improvement from the $26.26 million loss they posted in the previous quarter. But three of the nonbanks – Impac, Ocwen and PHH Corp. – recorded losses on their mortgage origination ... [Includes one data chart]

Despite the desire of mortgage lenders to preserve or expand their origination business this year, many are anxious about increasing compliance risk and more competition, according to a recent survey by Fannie Mae. Of those lenders responding, 88 percent said they are looking to grow their mortgage origination business, continuing a trend from the prior year, versus just 12 percent indicating they want to maintain current levels. No lenders expressed an intention to downsize or ...

Mortgage industry groups continue to rail against the disruptions they insist are being caused by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s integrated disclosure rule known as TRID. Respondents to a February survey by the American Bankers Association indicated that TRID compliance is still a relevant problem, continues to impose a heavy compliance burden, and causes customer dissatisfaction through delayed closings and increased fees and costs, the trade group ...

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 ...