The Mortgage Bankers Association urged the Federal Housing Finance Agency to include other fee structures and not just seek public comment on one servicing fee structure in a forthcoming proposal. The FHFA has been working behind closed doors with Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae to devise a new servicing compensation structure for mortgages securitized by the agencies, which account for over 90 percent of new lending. Industry groups and others have been consulted during the process, which is expected to result in an exposure document subject to public comment. The MBA cautioned the FHFA against showing preference for any...

In the 18 states that have loan limits scheduled to expire come October, the impact on borrowers will be minimal, according to a recent report released by economists at the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The National Association of Realtors, the Mortgage Bankers Association and the National Association of Home Builders have been lobbying to extend current high-cost loan limits that are scheduled to decline from a maximum of $729,750 to $650,500 on Oct. 1, claiming that the market isn’t stable enough to stand up without them. Sens. Robert Menendez, D-NJ, and Johnny Isakson, R-GA, this week introduced S. 1508, the Homeownership Affordability Act of 2011, to allow...

A report by RealtyTrac shows that foreclosure activity decreased on a year-over-year basis in 178 of the nation’s 211 metropolitan areas with a population of 200,000 or more. The report found a decrease in foreclosure activity in the top 10 metropolitan areas in the first half of 2011 compared to the first half of 2010. Seattle was the only exception with a nearly 10 percent increase in foreclosure activity from the first half of 2010. Seattle’s foreclosure rating is now 57th among all metro areas, up from a 97th ranking in the first half of 2010. California, Nevada and Arizona cities represented the top 10 metro foreclosure rates and 15 of the top...

Fannie Mae said this week it would submit a request to the Treasury Department via the Federal Housing Finance Agency for an additional $5.1 billion to eliminate the GSE’s net worth deficit.

Serious delinquency rates on home-equity loans held by banks and thrifts continued to decline in the first quarter of 2011, according to the Inside Mortgage Finance Bank Mortgage Database. However, the improved performance was led by home-equity lines of credit as the non-accrual rate on closed-end seconds increased compared with the previous quarter. The HEL serious delinquency rate (90+ days late plus non-accrual) and net charge off rates for combined HELOC and closed-end second portfolios was 2.09 percent at the end of the first quarter of 2011. That was down ... [includes one data chart]

Significant increases in all major collateral categories pushed non-mortgage ABS issuance up 44.3 percent from the first to the second quarter of 2011, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS ranking and analysis. ABS production revved up to $43.2 billion in the second quarter, the highest level since the third quarter of 2009. That brought year-to-date issuance to $73.2 billion, some 28.2 percent ahead of the pace during the first six months of 2010. Deals backed by loans to purchase or lease cars and other vehicles continued to account for the biggest slice of the market. Vehicle ABS issuance rose ... [contains two data charts]

Residential mortgage lending fell sharply in the second quarter, sinking to levels not seen since the depth of the financial market meltdown in late 2008. Lenders originated an estimated $265.0 billion in 1-4 family mortgages during the second quarter, down 18.5 percent from the first three months of the year. Production barely topped the $260.0 billion in mortgage originations posted in the fourth quarter of 2008, which was the lowest quarterly out-put since early 2000. Third-quarter production appears to be ... [includes two data charts]

Thanks to low mortgage rates, the government share of the home purchase market rose in June, according to new numbers compiled from the Campbell/Inside Mortgage HousingPulse Tracking Survey. But the latest survey also highlighted several factors that are likely to put downward pressure on home prices in the balance of this year. Mortgage rates have been falling for the past several months, dipping to below 4.5 percent in June for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages financed through Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHA, Inside Mortgage Finance’s weekly sampling of rates reveals. This has helped ... [contains one graph]

Some federally regulated depository institutions are scrambling to meet a July 29 deadline to register with the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry to avoid possible sanctions by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Although the covered institutions have begun registering their mortgage loan originators as required by the Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act, there is some confusion about other employees whose mortgage-related responsibilities are not as clear cut as those of MLOs, said compliance experts. Such employees include those who ...

Bank of America’s staggering $13.2 billion net loss on its mortgage banking operations overwhelmed fairly stable performance by the rest of the industry during the second quarter, according to a new analysis of earnings reports from 13 lenders by Inside Mortgage Trends. Including BofA’s huge loss, the group posted an aggregate loss of $9.8 billion for the second quarter, drowning out a modest $2.9 billion profit during the first three months of the year. The landmine in BofA’s second quarter results was a $14.0 billion provision for ... [includes one data chart and one graph]