One bidder who has looked at the Ginnie MSR package from PHH described it as “seasoned with some delinquencies in it.”

Senator Investor Group now owns a 6.28 percent stake in Radian, a top ranked mortgage insurer.

FHA Commissioner Carol Galante is slated to depart the agency in a few weeks, leaving in her wake a healthier Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund, but her withdrawal comes amid gripes from some lenders that agency premiums are too high, hurting the first-time homebuyer market. Several industry officials give Galante high marks for not caving to industry pressure on reducing FHA premiums, and for trying to build bridges to originators at a time when the Inspector General of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and Justice Department continue to target lenders for their “legacy” production. One consultant who represents FHA lenders said...

In late July Galante met with the press to discuss working with FHA lenders. But now she's handed in her resignation. Why?

Stonegate Mortgage last week posted a meager second quarter profit of $300,000.

As Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac buyback demands have tapered off, lenders continue to face aggressive government efforts to indemnify the FHA for losses, but they do have options available to them that can work in their favor. During a webinar sponsored last week by Inside Mortgage Finance, Amanda Raines, a partner with the BuckleySandler law firm in Washington, DC, emphasized that FHA indemnification demands have continued this year, with an aggressive use of the False Claims Act and the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act. That has led...

Production of new agency mortgage-backed securities increased by 11 percent over June, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS ranking and analysis.

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.

FHA violations were related to lender approval, loan origination and mortgage servicing practices.

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...