Mortgage buybacks and indemnifications may be off their peak in terms of volume, but they are widely expected to continue for the foreseeable future, industry experts said this week. But the good news for the industry is that there are a variety of defenses and coping strategies available, depending on the particulars of a given situation. Amanda Raines, a partner in the Washington, DC, office of the BuckleySandler law firm, told participants of an Inside Mortgage Finance webinar this week that more buybacks are definitely on the way. “The Department of Justice is still making financial fraud a priority,” she said. Raines noted...

The FHA’s widespread reduction in loan limits for 2014 has had a mixed impact on production levels so far this year, according to a new Inside FHA Lending analysis of FHA endorsement data. Through the first four months of 2014, FHA endorsements were down 55.6 percent from the same period last year. But in counties where loan limits were lowered, FHA production was down 57.5 percent from early 2013. In the relatively few counties where loan limits actually increased in 2014, FHA endorsements were also down from a year ago, but by a less severe 47.4 percent. The biggest decline in endorsements has been in refinances, especially FHA-to-FHA refinances. In areas with lowered loan limits, production of these loans has plummeted 87.0 percent, and even areas with raised loan limits saw an 81.1 percent drop in streamlined refis. Purchase-mortgage originations have taken less of a ...

The delinquency rate for residential FHA-insured mortgages fell at the halfway mark of 2014 from the end of the fourth quarter last year, a result of improved overall loan performance, strong credit standards and an improving, albeit slowly, economy, an Inside FHA Lending analysis of agency data suggests. Although the number of FHA lenders included in the analysis has doubled since year-end 2013, delinquency rates in the 30-60 days and 90-day plus buckets appear to be trending downward. As of June 30, FHA delinquencies across the board were down to 13.3 percent from 15.2 percent as of Dec. 30, 2013. The seriously delinquent rate – the percentage of loans that are 90 days or more past due – has dropped to 7.14 percent from 8.08 percent over the same period. The delinquency rate of FHA loans that are at least one payment past due also fell to ... [1 chart]

JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo have both paid major settlements regarding FHA lending, and both have curtailed their participation in the program, according to a new analysis of Ginnie Mae data by Inside FHA Lending. During the first six months of 2013, Chase accounted for 11.8 percent of the FHA mortgages in newly issued Ginnie mortgage-backed securities. During the first half of 2014, its volume of FHA loans in Ginnie pools was down 75.8 percent from the same period last year, and its share of the market sank more than half, to just 5.1 percent. Jamie Dimon, Chase’s president and CEO, recently questioned why the bank should stay in the FHA business when legal costs are so high. The Ginnie data show it ... [1 chart]

First Republic Bank and JPMorgan Chase were the top two contributors to the scant four jumbo MBS deals that hit the market during the second quarter.

Among the nation’s top five servicers, all suffered a decline in their MSR portfolios. Among the top 30, 20 firms saw a reduction in housing receivables.

The unspoken factor affecting Ocwen's immediate future is Benjamin Lawsky and the New York Department of Financial Services.

Mortgage lenders face a heftier Home Mortgage Disclosure Act reporting load under a proposed rule issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that would implement a number of changes mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act – and then some. The bureau views implementation of the Dodd-Frank changes as an opportunity to improve the data collected under HMDA, ease some reporting burden and modernize how the data are collected and reported, the agency said. The CFPB proposed...

One joke making the rounds in Washington this week: Congress is going on its August vacation. How will we know the difference?

Mortgage lenders repurchased just $522.5 million of home loans from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during the first quarter of 2014, according to disclosures filed by the two government-sponsored enterprises with the Securities and Exchange Commission. That was by far the lowest quarterly repurchase volume reported by the GSEs, according to an analysis by Inside Mortgage Trends, an affiliated newsletter. Because Fannie and Freddie this year stopped providing detailed repurchase activity data in their quarterly earnings, the SEC disclosures are the only comprehensive source of GSE buyback activity. First-quarter repurchase volume was...[Includes one data chart]