Wells Fargo Bank and Bank of America maintained their dominance in the FHA servicing market while the other institutions in the top five category held on to their respective market shares in the third quarter of 2012, according to the latest rankings by Inside FHA Lending. Except for some slight changes in the rankings, overall volume appeared flat during the quarter with no significant jumps or decline. The volume of mortgage debt outstanding with FHA insurance increased to $7.6 billion in the third quarter, up from $7.5 billion the previous quarter, with top-ranked Wells Fargo and second-place BofA accounting for ... [1 chart]

Ginnie Mae servicers reported a small increase in total production on a quarterly basis and a modest improvement year-over-year, according to an Inside FHA Lending analysis of FHA data. Third quarter servicing volume was up 2.1 percent to $1.3 trillion from the previous quarter and 9.7 percent from the same period last year. Not surprisingly, top-ranked Wells Fargo Mortgage and second-place Bank of America accounted for 52.0 percent of total production. Wells Fargo grew its Ginnie Mae servicing portfolio to $399.6 billion in the third quarter, 4.2 percent better than the previous quarter and a 17.4 percent improvement from a year ago. That bumped up Wells’ market share to ... [1 chart]

Major home-equity lenders continued to show little interest in the sector during the third quarter of 2012, despite signs of strengthening home values, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance market analysis and ranking. New originations of home-equity loans – including closed-end seconds and home-equity lines of credit – remained at a sluggish $14.0 billion in the third quarter, unchanged from the previous period. The HEL market in 2012 has rebounded about 5.3 percent from the pace set during the first nine months of 2011. The uptick in new HEL originations has not been...[Includes three data charts]

Mortgage lenders saw a welcome decline in the volume of repurchases and indemnifications they had to make during the third quarter, but a new analysis of two major databases by Inside Mortgage Trends reveals that the industry made little progress in resolving the massive overhang of disputes involving loans from the depth of the housing crisis. According to bank call reports, repurchases and indemnifications declined by 21.6 percent from the second to the third quarter ... [Includes 3 data charts]

The average mortgage banking firm reported a hefty $4.12 million net profit during the third quarter of 2012, up 40.4 percent from already high earnings in the previous quarter, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s performance report. Although the MBA survey group – 311 companies in the latest report – varies somewhat from period to period, the third quarter earnings represent a windfall in profits that mirrors the results reported by large public companies and financial institutions ...

Government regulations and compliance changes are making it difficult for mortgage professionals to do business in the current environment, while outdated technology and manual processes are impeding the workflow, according to a new Genpact study. Faced with new regulations and a slow housing recovery, the mortgage marketplace badly needs new technology solutions and improved business processes, said the study, which was compiled for Genpact Limited, a provider of ...

The Mortgage Bankers Association said it largely supports accounting changes that would impact holdings of mortgage-backed securities. Under a proposal by the Financial Accounting Standards Board, there would be no change in measurement for reporting entities that carry certain assets and liabilities at amortized cost. The MBA said the update proposed by FASB in October would require certain changes to the measurement of assets and liabilities of securitizations that a reporting entity is required ...

Lenders and servicers will benefit from improved borrower performance as home prices continue to climb, according to industry analysts. Home prices are expected to continue to improve through 2013, although there are some concerns about the impact of negotiations in Congress relating to the fiscal cliff. Home prices nationwide, including distressed sales, increased on a year-over-year basis by 6.3 percent in October 2012, according to CoreLogic. The firm noted that home prices have now increased ...

Upcoming changes from the Internal Revenue Service will allow for a completely paperless mortgage application process, according to industry participants. Beginning Jan. 7, the IRS will allow electronic signatures for IRS Form 4506-T, request for transcript of tax return. The electronic signatures will be allowed for tax transcripts ordered through the IRS Income Verification Express Services. “The requirement of a manual signature on the IRS 4506-T was the last significant impediment to a truly ...

Panelists with opposing views of the FHA this week supported raising the single-family mortgage insurance program’s minimum credit score to keep borrowers with questionable credit quality out and help preserve the high quality of FHA’s newer books of business. Despite their disagreements over whether the FHA will ultimately need a taxpayer bailout, participants in a policy forum hosted by the Cato Institute called for reforms to reduce government presence in the mortgage market and help the FHA to avoid ...