Nobody likes getting a mortgage, but interactive technology – if implemented correctly – can make the process significantly more transparent and less stressful, industry experts say. There is an opportunity in technology to make the system more transparent and help educate the next generation of homeowners, as well as minority groups, said Robert Greenbaum, director of communications and marketing at Fannie Mae, during a panel session at the annual convention of the Mortgage Bankers Association. “They aspire...

The top five servicers still accounted for over half (53.3 percent) of the total for the top 50 servicers, but that was down from 57.0 percent a year ago.

After a large 3Q loss, it was a bloodbath for Walter's share price...

The company, whose share price was hammered this past summer after disappointing 2Q results, promised investors that it will be break even in 2016 or “modestly profitable.”

It remains to be seen whether the mortgage servicing market actually grew in the third quarter of 2015, but it’s clear that distribution within the industry continued to shift. The top 50 mortgage servicers had a combined portfolio of $7.300 trillion, including whole loans in portfolio and mortgage servicing rights, at the end of September, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Mortgage Finance. That was down 0.2 percent from total servicing held by the top 50 companies at the end of the second quarter. The final word on mortgage debt outstanding comes...[Includes two data tables]

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac reported a combined $1.485 billion in net income for the third quarter of 2015, a hefty 83.1 percent decline from the previous period. While Fannie reported its 15th consecutive profitable quarter ($1.96 billion in net income), Freddie posted its first loss ($475 million) in four years. Don Layton, Freddie’s CEO, said that earnings volatility “stems from our usage of derivatives to hedge interest rate risks and accounting mismatches associated with the activity. This quarter showed a continuation of that volatility as the accounting mismatch produced a negative $1.5 billion [generally accepted accounting principles] earnings, which was enough to tip us into the comprehensive income loss of about $500 million for the quarter. “Utilizing a derivatives hedging strategy can result...

Meanwhile, loan originations at the company inched up to $4.9 billion in 3Q from $4.8 billion in the second quarter.

The remaining principal balance of securitized VA loans was $426.8 billion, up 5.1 percent from the prior quarter.

Discussing the new integrated disclosure rule known as TRID, Ishbia noted that loan brokers “adapted wonderfully and we are closing a lot of TRID loans.”

The Federal Reserve’s zero interest rate policy lives to die another day, as the Fed’s Open Market Committee opted this week to hold the line on a rate increase, as it has since December 2008, leaving investors and other market participants to try to read the tea leaves as best they can. “To support continued progress toward maximum employment and price stability, the committee today reaffirmed its view that the current 0 to 0.25 percent target range for the federal funds rate remains appropriate,” the FOMC said in its much-anticipated statement, issued mid-week. In making its decision about whether to raise the target range at its next meeting, scheduled for mid-December, the Fed said...