The Blackstone Group this week finally completed its purchase of all or parts of PMAC Lending, a California-based lender that will help the investment banking firm establish itself in the red-hot West Coast mortgage market. Although the publicly traded Blackstone has maintained a cone of silence regarding its talks with PMAC, employees of the Chino Hills lender began reporting the news themselves through various social media outlets, including Facebook. At least two other nonbank lenders are in talks with Blackstone, one in California and one in Pennsylvania. A spokeswoman for Blackstone declined...

The House Financial Services Committee has passed a number of mortgage-related bills designed to ease lenders’ liabilities by simplifying rules, reducing complexity and compliance costs, while a streamlined regulatory relief package gained new momentum in the Senate. Late last week, the committee reported out the following bills: H.R. 1210, (Portfolio Lending and Mortgage Access Act); H.R. 1941 (Financial Institutions Examination Fairness and Reform Act); and H.R. 3192 (Homebuyers Assistance Act). H.R. 1210 would modify...

Among the findings of the eClosing pilot project run by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is the need for greater coordination and cooperation between lenders, technology vendors and settlement agents, pilot participants revealed this week. Speaking at a CFPB forum to announce the results of the bureau’s recently concluded eClosing initiative, Jim Connell, chief information officer for Sierra Pacific Mortgage, said one of the biggest lessons his company learned was the importance of coordinating with the settlement agents. “We had already passed...

The case caught the attention of many loan officers and managers because it centered around the basic issue of what type of client information an LO can take with them when they depart one organization for another.

One analyst familiar with the case noted that $109.2 million “is a big chunk” for PHH, adding that the case shows “the CFPB is crazy and doesn’t want to be questioned or challenged…”

PIMCO stressed that the “Wells Notice” is neither a formal allegation of wrongdoing nor a finding that any law was violated.

Lenders One, by the way, is looking for a new CEO. Its former chief executive, Jeff McGuiness, left back in June...

According to one published report, Gov. Andrew Cuomo is considering John Coffey as the next superintendent for New York Department of Financial Services.

The U.S. Court of Federal Claims Court ordered the U.S. Treasury to release all discovery documents pertaining to the conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac last week in connection with the Fairholme Funds v. The United States case. In a move forcing the U.S. Treasury to release all discovery documents pertaining to the GSE conservatorship, a court ruling last week is a rare legal victory for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac investors. Attorneys for Fairholme believe that the government is deliberately stonewalling, making it more difficult to get a true understanding of the events and decisions leading up to the third amendment sweep.

Ginnie Mae said new MBS issuers need to gain some experience in the agency’s program before they are allowed to do servicing transfers, but some newly approved issuers have attempted to do so. Roy Hormuth, director of single-family securitization at Ginnie Mae, said there has been some misconception among new issuers about doing a co-issuance program in their first month in the Ginnie program despite the fact that they are not ready for it. New issuers must first demonstrate that they can successfully manage the servicing themselves before they can transfer servicing immediately, he said. In a co-issuance transaction, a company sells...