Residential Capital Corp., the bankrupt mortgage division of Ally Financial, has asked for court permission to sell an estimated $130 million of FHA-insured residential loans.

Fourteen months after the White House signaled its intention to make Carol Galante the nation’s next housing commissioner, the Senate on Sunday afternoon finally confirmed her nomination.

Ginnie Mae servicing volume rose to $1.3 trillion in the third quarter due to modest increases in quarterly and year-over-year production.

Competition in FHA lending may get a boost following the easing of reporting requirements for insured depository institutions with $500 million or less in total assets.

Sen. Bob Corker, R-TN, a key member of the Senate Banking Committee, has secured a commitment from Acting FHA Commissioner Carol Galante to toughen agency rules to put the insurance fund on a sounder financial footing.

Bexil American Mortgage has finally obtained its Ginnie Mae servicer approval and this week inked a deal to purchase a small nonbank lender whose identity it, so far, has not been revealed.

Outside the weather’s frightful – and inside the loan closings are piling up like snow drifts in Northern Minnesota.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development late in the first quarter will auction off a package of up to 15,000 severely delinquent FHA-insured mortgages. A portion of the loans will be offered in Neighborhood Stabilization Outcome (NSO) pools in targeted areas.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac saw a noticeable decline in Home Affordable Refinance Program activity during the final months of 2012, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis. At a time when overall refinance business rose 11.0 percent at the two government-sponsored enterprises, deliveries of HARP loans fell 6.9 percent. The biggest decline was in issuance of MBS specifically geared for underwater mortgages. A total of $62.28 billion of high loan-to-value ratio mortgages were securitized...[Includes two data charts]

Mortgage bankers funded $232.69 billion worth of FHA loans in 2012, a 22 percent jump from the year prior, but the improvement pales in comparison to business gains experienced by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to exclusive loan-level data compiled by Inside FHA Lending. By comparison, Fannie grew its business by almost 46 percent last year with Freddie improving loan purchases from seller/servicers by 49 percent. Still, it was FHA’s best quarterly showing ($64.03 billion) since the fourth quarter of 2010 when mortgage lenders originated $72.12 billion of product. And not surprisingly, consumers taking out FHA loans ... [2 charts]