Consumer advocates and attorneys are urging the Department of Housing and Urban Development to delay the implementation of a new policy that purports to provide relief to surviving spouses of reverse-mortgage borrowers and to find solutions that are more effective. The group said the policy HUD announced in Mortgagee Letter 2015-03 on Jan. 29 is so restrictive that virtually all surviving non-borrowing spouses will get no relief. A letter to the agency, drafted by the National Consumer Law Center and signed by the Consumers Union, California Reinvestment Coalition, National Housing Law Project, Housing and Economic Rights Advocates and Institute on Aging denounced the new policy. They said most surviving spouses of deceased borrowers of Home Equity Conversion Mortgage loans will not be able to meet the policy’s stringent guidelines and will ...

And let the selling begin! 2015 could be a banner year for MSR sales.

The volume of mortgage-servicing right transfers is expected to continue growing in 2015, perhaps hitting as high as $500 billion, according to experts attending the MSR conference sponsored by Information Management Network this week in New York. Although the focus in recent years has been on the advance of nonbank servicers, observers agree that banks will remain a major force in the industry. The wild card in the MSR market is ... [Includes one data chart]

The supply of home mortgage debt outstanding grew for the second consecutive quarter during the final three months of 2014, eking out a slim 0.1 percent gain from the end of September. The Federal Reserve late last week reported that $9.862 trillion of 1-4 family mortgage debt was outstanding at the end of last year. It may not sound like much, but it marked the first time since ... [Includes one data chart]

In the wake of a recent Supreme Court of the United States decision allowing loan officers to receive overtime pay, mortgage company owners are already laying down the law: no OT for LOs unless management approves the extra time first. The freshly decided case is causing lenders to distinguish between “inside” and “outside” salesforces. According to early interpretations of the decision, loan officers who work in a branch more than half their time are ...

Real estate agents have a positive outlook for the spring homebuying season, especially first-time homebuyers, according to the Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey. Tom Popik, research director of Campbell Surveys, said homebuyer traffic was higher than expected during the winter and demand from first-time buyers is expected to be strong in the coming months. “Rising interest rates may stimulate the market as homebuyers ...

With JPMorgan Chase slated to buy $45 billion worth of Fannie Mae rights from nonbank Ocwen Financial the shift in MSRs over to banks likely will continue...

Talk about optimism: Roughly 71 percent of firms surveyed said they expect purchase-mortgage demand to rise.

Nevada was the leader in underwater homes with 24.2 percent of mortgaged properties in a negative equity position.

The report from WalletHub compares the cost of FHA and private MI from 2008 through 2014 – before the recent 50 basis points cut in FHA premiums...