Policymakers at Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the FHA need to work with lenders to identify and resolve sources of buyback risk uncertainty in order to loosen the market’s grip on tight credit conditions, according to a white paper issued this week by Moody’s Analytics and the Urban Institute. Disagreements over lender judgment calls, post-underwriting chances in circumstances and nitpicking over trivial mistakes by the two government-sponsored enterprises and the FHA have stepped up put-backs “in ways lenders cannot adequately address through better underwriting or pricing,” note paper co-authors Mark Zandi and Jim Parrott. In 2011 and 2012, Fannie and Freddie together required...

The Federal Reserve is pointing its finger at both loan officers and applicants for the misreporting of borrower income.

All five mortgage servicers participating in the settlement will be subject to tougher testing, said Joseph Smith, the settlement’s monitor.

Some in the mortgage broker community have suggested that operating as a mini-correspondent could help brokers bypass points-and-fees complications with the qualified mortgage definition under the ATR rule.

Collateral was much less of an issue in the purchase market, accounting for just 14 percent of conventional denials.

“Our tool puts valuable information into the hands of the public in an accessible way," said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. But will consumers use this information against mortgage lenders?

Despite recovering house values in most markets, insufficient collateral remained the biggest obstacle for consumers trying to get mortgage financing in 2012, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data. In virtually every category of the market, loan applicants were more successful in getting approved for a mortgage last year than they were back in 2011, the HMDA data show. Some 15.5 percent of loan applicants were turned down last year ... [Includes one data chart]

Bank of America and its acquired headache, Countrywide, accounted for the biggest chunk of mortgage repurchases from the government-sponsored enterprises during the first half of the year, but the focus shifted to different lenders during the second quarter. A new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of repurchase disclosures made by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shows that BofA repurchased $8.73 billion in mortgages – most of them originated by Countrywide – during the first six months of 2013 ... [Includes one data chart]

Rising home prices and interest-rate trends continue to decrease purchase-mortgage affordability for potential homebuyers. However, industry analysts note that mortgage affordability is still historically high and could soon improve. The 20-city S&P/Case-Shiller home price index increased by 1.8 percent in July compared with the previous month, according to the latest data released this week. On a year-over-year basis, the index was up by 12.4 percent. The home-price gains indicate a ...

With roughly three months left before the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s rules on loan-originator compensation and ability-to-repay standards kick in, mortgage originators are scrambling to find the best way to survive and thrive under the new regime. In recent weeks, some in the mortgage broker community have suggested that operating as a mini-correspondent could help brokers bypass points-and-fees complications with the qualified mortgage definition under the ATR rule ...