If you're looking for another factor in the red hot MSR market, consider this: housing receivables keep shrinking.

FHA needs money, right? Some of that cash may come to the government insurer in a roundabout way from JPMorgan Chase.

A federal district court judge in Manhattan this week rejected Wells Fargo’s plea to dismiss a lawsuit alleging it lied about the quality of home loans submitted to the Department of Housing and Urban Development for FHA insurance over a 10-year period. District Court Judge Jesse Furman allowed government claims under the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989 to proceed but ruled that legal injury claims based on events that transpired before June 2009 were time-barred and that the government had waited too long to file a lawsuit. The judge also threw out claims of negligence and unjust enrichment. The government filed...

Besides Citi, a handful of large depositories are in the midst of wrapping up sizable MSR auctions this week, including offerings from Wells Fargo and Flagstar Bancorp.

A new audit of the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund is due in October and speculation about its cash reserves is not good.

HUD declined to discuss the contents of the proposed standards or indicate a timetable for a final QM rule.

The secondary market for mortgage servicing rights continues to spit out new offerings, especially in the bulk arena.

Two top Democrats on the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs called upon the FHA to revise its eligibility policy to enable more distressed borrowers to qualify for loan modification. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Johnson, D-SD, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-MA, urged FHA Commissioner Carol Galante in a letter to eliminate a provision that requires borrowers to be “currently employed” in order to receive loss mitigation assistance from the FHA. The FHA inserted the provision into the FHA guidelines for ...

Genworth U.S. Mortgage Insurance has stepped up its competition with the FHA in the home purchase market by announcing reduced rates and the elimination of certain overlays to make it easier for customers to deliver loans through the government-sponsored enterprises’ automatic underwriting systems. Effective on Sept. 16, the credit policy changes closely align Genworth’s requirements with those for loans approved by Fannie Mae’s Desktop Underwriter or Freddie Mac’s Loan Prospector. Specifically, Genworth will expand guidelines for its Simply Underwrite program to enable lenders to offer affordable low-downpayment financing to ...

The Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago has announced a partnership with Ginnie Mae to issue securities guaranteed by the secondary market agency and backed by home loans originated by member financial institutions. The new conduit product, “MPF Government Mortgage-Backed Securities,” provides another secondary mortgage market outlet for lenders originating mortgages insured by the FHA or guaranteed by the VA or the Rural Housing Service. Low-volume lenders that currently lack direct access to the secondary market are expected to benefit from the new FHLBank program. MPF GMBS would allow lenders to ... [1 chart]