The mortgage credit box contracted quickly as the housing market slid toward disaster in 2007, but it’s proving to be much more difficult to stretch it back to what used to be considered normal. The subtitle to this week’s annual convention of the Mortgage Bankers Association could well have been “access to credit,” an idea that clearly dominated the conversation. Despite the recent unexpected drop in mortgage interest rates, most observers expect origination volume in 2015 to track closely to this year’s sluggish level and part of the problem is relatively weak home-purchase lending. Industry people are...

The new nonbank task force includes representatives from nine state regulators, including the New York Department of Financial Services where Benjamin Lawsky is the superintendent.

According to the most recently available data, 33 IG offices had roughly 3,500 agents authorized to carry firearms.

Many lenders and some investors pushed for an alignment of QRM and QM, while other investors sought protections beyond the requirements for QMs.

David Steckel of Bank of America said his institution has focused on capturing more of the customers who fit into the company’s credit box rather than making that box bigger.

Any refunds paid by the originator must occur within 210 days after the loan is made.

One servicing analyst told IMFnews that if Ocwen continues to get downgraded on its servicer ratings it could be forced to sell MSRs and/or post additional capital.

Interactive Mortgage Advisors has launched RealPartner.com, a crowd funding platform giving accredited investors access to performing residential mortgages...

Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt this week unveiled two significant policy changes aimed at opening up the mortgage credit box: additional buyback relief for originators that sell loans to the government-sponsored enterprises and a return to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac purchases of mortgages with loan-to-value ratios between 95 percent and 97 percent. Speaking at the annual convention of the Mortgage Bankers Association in Las Vegas, Watt gave some concrete details about the new “life of loan” representation and warranty relief and outlined a number of other changes in the works. Moreover, industry officials contend...

If Republicans take control of the U.S. Senate in the upcoming elections, Congress next year may actually produce some mortgage-related legislation, according to political analysts participating on a panel at the Mortgage Bankers Association’s annual convention in Las Vegas this week. Any successful legislation will be narrowly targeted and not address complex problems like building a new mortgage finance system or resolving the status of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, analysts agreed. Over the last four years, the Democrats’ top priority has been preserving...