Federal housing regulators and Congress may have relied on inaccurate and outdated data while keeping track of FHA loan defaults and identifying potential risk to the FHA insurance fund, according to a report from the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of the Inspector General. The HUD IG said it initiated an audit after observing delayed reporting of default information on loan histories. The OIG performed the audit between November 2012 and July 2013. HUD did not comment on the report.The department requires lenders to report monthly all loans that are 30 days past due. Prompt and accurate reporting provides ...

Freddie Mac had been lending Fed Funds (overnight loans) to Lehman Brothers since 2005. Then, in 2008, the nature of those loans changed to longer term borrowings.

Lenders such as Bank of America and Quicken are hooked on refis. What might the future hold for these funders as purchase loans begin to dominate?

In less than a month Wells Fargo has unveiled mortgage-related layoffs of 4,100. Some of those receiving pink slips could find other work at the bank.

Almost 19 percent of the loans in the new Penny Mac jumbo MBS were originated by mortgage brokers.

Wall Street will hit the halls of Congress on the issue of eminent domain. Meanwhile, these lenders are refi-heavy: Wells Fargo, Chase, and Quicken. See our exclusive list.

The decline in refinance mortgage lending that began in early 2013 continued into the third quarter, with refi originations moving to their lowest level in two years. According to a new Inside Mortgage Finance ranking and analysis, refinance mortgage production fell 12.9 percent from the first quarter of 2013 to the second, with an estimated $332.0 billion in new originations for the period. Refinance production has continued to decline since the end of June. Securitization of refinance loans by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae declined...[Includes three data charts]

The mortgage and housing sectors know that lower loan limits for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are coming – but they would like to forestall the day of reckoning for as long as possible, especially in light of looming implementation deadlines tied to a slew of new rules from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Industry lobbyists close to the issue said the Federal Housing Finance Agency was expected to make an announcement by the month’s end on what exactly those loan limits might be. However, some sources said the FHFA was weighing heavily the fact that mortgage lenders are already crunching on technology and compliance upgrades tied to CFPB rules, in particular, the ability-to-repay measure. One official said...

Although Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s regulator has previously telegraphed additional increases in the government-sponsored enterprises’ guaranty fees sometime this year, it remains to be seen when or whether the Federal Housing Finance Agency will follow through on its 12-month-old proposal to charge higher g-fees on loans in states with slow foreclosure processes. One year ago this week, the FHFA solicited public comments on a proposal to adjust the single-family g-fee that the GSEs charge in five states with unusually slow foreclosure times. The five states – Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey and New York – would be subject to an additional upfront fee of between 15 and 30 basis points charged to lenders. The FHFA has said...

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s amended final rule on ability to repay and qualified mortgages may have justifiable reasons but it is very complicated and difficult to implement, and likely to have unintended consequences, according to industry attorneys. Notwithstanding recent amendments to address concerns raised by the mortgage industry, the rule continues to pose challenges to lenders and attorneys in various areas. There are problems in the rule’s content and requirements as well as in developing policies and procedures to support it and the software to implement it, attorneys said. “We’re talking...