While many industry experts say Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should explore deeper mortgage insurance coverage as an alternative form of credit-risk sharing, some say the role of private MIs is overrated. The Urban Institute recently published a paper advocating a broadening of the credit-risk transfer programs at the two government-sponsored enterprises to include private MI coverage down to the 50 percent loan-to-value ratio. The think tank also encouraged Fannie and Freddie to create a more transparent lender recourse program and to diversify their highly successful debt note CRT programs to provide investors more offerings with risk segmented by LTV ratio and credit scores. Although the Mortgage Bankers Association and U.S. Mortgage Insurers, the trade group that represents private MIs, have stumped...

The new streamlined refinance programs for high loan-to-value loans to be rolled out by government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac next year are good news for market participants in their risk-sharing deals because they cut the risk of borrower default and the associated risk of investor loss, according to a recent report by analysts at Moody’s Investors Service. The programs are designed to provide much needed liquidity to borrowers with high LTV ratios who are current on their mortgage but can’t qualify for a more traditional refi. “The new programs are...

Meanwhile, one mortgage executive told us that earlier in the year Impac approached his shop about a sale. This executive, who did not want his company identified, turned Impac down…

-The average credit score for purchase mortgages securitized by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae during the second quarter was 722.8, down a few points from the first quarter.

UI’s Laurie Goodman said borrowers who took out mortgages in the past five years are better at paying their mortgages than any other group of mortgage borrowers in history.

For depositories, the data generally show more overall scrutiny from the CFPB as well…

JPM, though, relies heavily on correspondent loan purchases to gather loans while Quicken bills itself as a direct-to-consumer/retail lender.

IU’s Tim Pagliara owns roughly 346,000 shares of Freddie’s junior preferred stock, according to court documents.

Only two of the top 10 banks as ranked by “servicing for others” have been in growth mode: PNC Bank and SunTrust.

Industry observers are weighing in on the redesigned Uniform Residential Loan Application, an industry standard that has largely remained the same for the past 20 years, until now. The GSEs published the new form last week to give lenders ample time to get familiar with it. The updated form won’t officially be in use until Jan. 1, 2018. The URLA is for single-family loans submitted to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mae, as well as mortgages insured by the FHA, VA or U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Housing Services. The redesigned form falls under the larger Federal Housing Finance Agency and GSE initiative to standardize single-family mortgage data in the U.S.