FHA to Extend Short Refi Program. The FHA has announced its intent to extend its Short Refinance Program for borrowers in negative equity positions. A mortgagee letter will be issued soon to announce the extension. Feedback Period extended for Draft Servicing Section of Proposed Single Family Handbook. The FHA is extending the comment period for the draft servicing section of the Single Family Housing Policy Handbook through Nov. 14, 2014 to allow stakeholders additional time to study and comment on the proposed section. The original deadline date was Oct. 17. CFPB Updates Reverse Mortgage Guide. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recently updated its reverse mortgage guide on its website to account for recent changes made by the Department of Housing and Urban Development to its Home Equity Conversion Mortgage program. The updated guide highlights new limits to ...

Back in 2004, credit unions accounted for just 3.2 percent of total mortgage originations. Not anymore.

Back in the first quarter of 2013, only 31.3 percent of Fannie/Freddie purchase mortgages had private mortgage insurance.

A source close to Horne confirmed the news and said he would be serving as an “executive advisor” to Wingspan, at least over the short term. But this source warned that the situation was "fluid."

Ethos Lending, a QM and non-QM lender, is marketing itself to third-party loan officers as the “broker advocate."

Wingspan is a specialty servicer, a space that is looking increasingly crowded these days.

IMT also found that in 3Q, seven of the top 15 sellers to Fannie and Freddie were nonbanks.

For those lenders originating HELOCs, they will have more failed loans on their hands – that is, if the theory is proved true.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency can and should improve its oversight of Freddie Mac information technology investments, concluded a new audit by the agency’s official watchdog. Last week’s Inspector General audit noted that Freddie is making “substantial investments” in IT in order to better support its operations and reduce risk. The GSE’s planned IT expenditures over three years are expected to exceed $1 billion, the IG added.

Fannie Mae last week announced two significant executive staffing changes. Leslie Peeler, senior vice president in charge of Fannie Mae’s National Servicing Organization, is leaving the GSE for a senior position with IBM’s mortgage group. It’s unclear what exactly Peeler will do for the mortgage division of IBM, which includes Seterus, a subservicer that works for Fannie Mae. IBM rarely discloses any information about its mortgage division.