Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro has named one of his senior advisors, Ed Golding, as principal deputy assistant secretary temporarily in charge of HUD’s Office of Housing and the FHA. Golding is currently with the Office of Policy Development & Research and will assume his new post April 7. His appointment, however, has raised a few eyebrows on Capitol Hill because it had not gone through formal Senate confirmation, which some lawmakers say could get HUD in hot water. Golding, a former senior economist at Freddie Mac, is replacing...

The percentage of FHA borrowers refinancing their mortgage into another government loan has fallen through the floor the past two years, with all indications pointing to a rule change that prevents mortgage insurance from being cancelled over the life of the loan. Of course, increases in premiums haven’t helped either, but thanks to a January reduction in the annual FHA premium of 50 basis points, at least some of that business is coming back to the agency. “The life-of-the-loan issue is...

In efforts to expand mortgage access and get more homeowners in the door, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro said the FHA is looking into alternative credit scoring models. Speaking at a credit access symposium at the National Association of Realtors this week in Washington, DC, Castro said, “We want to make it more affordable, realistic and more feasible for folks to become homeowners.” He acknowledged...

The Prestwick Group is selling a Fannie/Freddie $167 million bulk deal with a monthly flow component of $15 million to $20 million.

Total VA volume for the entire year was $112.0 billion in purchase and refinance loans.

Glenview is bullish on Ocwen but it also owns a large stake in the nonbank...

It’s still unclear whether the Home Affordable Refinance Program, set to expire in December, will be extended and if eligibility requirements will be altered. During remarks at a JPMorgan conference in March, Bob Ryan, special advisor to Mel Watt, Federal Housing Finance Agency director, said that a decision needs to be made in the coming months. HARP, introduced in 2009 as a way for borrowers with little or no home equity to refinance mortgages into affordable payments, was originally set to expire at the end of 2013 but was extended through this year. Close to 3.3 million loans were refinanced through HARP since it began in 2009, and as of September 2014 there were...

Gebre was Galante’s temporary replacement. Until a recent cut in premiums, FHA volume has been steadily dropping.

Fannie Mae is still the most prolific author of single-family MBS, accounting for 46.6 percent of agency MBS outstanding at Dec. 31.

Sources note that earlier in the year, the privately held Carrington was the winning bidder on a roughly $20 billion package of Ginnie MSRs sold by BofA.