Understanding the ebb and flow of mortgage debt is hampered by a lack of data on mortgage flows, making it more difficult for policymakers and regulators to deal with fluctuations in overall credit growth. A working paper published recently by the Federal Reserve attempts to make sense of the factors driving the volatility in the stock debt by analyzing changes in aggregate mortgage debt into mortgage inflows and outflows. It attributes these inflows and outflows to more micro-components such as investor activity, first-time homebuying and borrower credit score. “Quantifying these various flows into and out of the pool of mortgage debt allows for a precise assessment of the relative importance over time,” the paper noted. “Creating such data on an ...

Commercial banks and thrifts reported a combined $4.67 billion in mortgage-banking income during the third quarter of 2014, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of call-report data. Third-quarter results were down 4.9 percent from the second quarter, which is consistent with the figures reported by publicly held mortgage lenders. Year-to-date mortgage-banking income for the depository institutions was $12.96 billion, down 37.0 percent from the first nine months of last year. Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase continued to rank as the top two banks in mortgage-banking income, but both reported declines of more than 25 percent from the second quarter to the third. On a year-to-date basis, the two lenders accounted for 47.3 percent of total mortgage-banking income earned ...

Although Bank of America has been dumping MSRs aggressively over the past two years, its subprime servicing portfolio has declined at a gradual pace.

What exactly is Owners.com? Launched in 1996, it’s supposedly the largest directory of homes for sale by owners. In other words, they don’t use traditional Realtors…

Wells Fargo reported a 2.1 percent drop in its correspondent originations from the second quarter to the third, and its year-to-date volume was down 57.3 percent.

Interactive Mortgage Advisors alone is working on $10 billion worth of deals...

Under current rules, a servicer cannot explain on the notice itself that the borrower’s hazard insurance is insufficient rather than expired or expiring...

A sale of that size would greatly reduce the bank’s portfolio and would signal a strategy shift.

However, the technology initiative will not be a slam dunk. Real estate laws vary from state to state, which can present a high hurdle for large national lenders to clear.

The biggest gain in bank MBS investment during the third quarter was in non-agency securities.