The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last week that a 2010 Federal Housing Finance Agency directive advising Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac not to purchase mortgages laden with certain first-priority lien obligations under the Property Assessed Clean Energy program falls within the FHFA’s purview as GSE conservator. A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit overturned a ruling last August by California Federal Judge Claudia Wilken that determined the FHFA was not acting as conservator but as regulator and had improperly exercised substantive regulatory oversight in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act when the agency halted GSE involvement with PACE programs.

Officials at Hope LoanPort are touting the capabilities of their web-based portal to help mortgage servicers get into full compliance with the servicing rules put out in February by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, as well as help loan modifications proceed without interruption. When the CFPB’s mortgage servicing rules kick in Jan. 10, 2014, lenders will be required to “maintain policies and procedures that are reasonably designed to achieve the objectives of facilitating transfer of ...

Despite a sharp increase in mortgage originations last year, the number of state-licensed loan originators increased by just 2.7 percent compared to 2011, according to data from the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System analyzed by Inside Mortgage Trends. A total of 519,428 loan originators were either licensed by the states or registered as staff of a bank, thrift or credit union. The highest concentration of these LOs was in California, where 15.3 percent of the industry ... [Includes one data chart]

Is the tide turning on residential delinquencies suffered by banks or do the numbers look better because the group is selling legacy MSRs?

According to an analysis by Fitch Ratings, the overall charges for a simple jumbo non-agency MBS across all note-holders would increase to between 6.3 percent and 8.2 percent under the new proposal.

The launch of the revised CFPB database expands the bureau's consumer complaint apparatus in a major way. It includes a sub-category for many products, including mortgages.

Fannie Mae could have an answer to its 'deferred tax asset' issue by the end of next week, freeing up billions of dollars in money.

Genworth moves closer to delinking from its mortgage insurance unit. Meanwhile, Wells Fargo has suffered the loss of a well-regarded regional rep.

Most Freddie Mac servicers are not complying with reporting requirements that seek to catch servicing fraud and regulatory violations, a mandate that falls under the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Servicing Alignment Initiative, according to a new audit. The FHFA Inspector General separately slammed the regulator for failing to “thoroughly oversee” how the two government-sponsored enterprises monitor their seller/servicers’ compliance with contractual agreements.

The credit union industry has appealed to the U.S. Senate for relief on rules and regulations coming out of the CFPB.