Although non-agency MBS issuance has been a dicey proposition since rates spiked in late spring, residential lenders continue to eye the sector, liking the long-term outlook for jumbo securities. Two nonbanks taking a close look at the jumbo MBS market include Freedom Mortgage and W.J. Bradley Mortgage Capital, both established names in the agency MBS arena. In an interview with Inside MBS & ABS, Freedom Mortgage CEO and founder Stanley Middleman said...

Wells Fargo originated nearly one out of every five jumbo mortgages completed in 2012, according to a new analysis and ranking by Inside Nonconforming Markets of Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data. Wells had a 17.8 percent share of the $220.51 billion in non-agency jumbo mortgages originated last year, more than double its nearest rival. The origination volumes are based on one-unit conventional loan limits for specific metropolitan statistical areas and the $417,000 conforming loan limit [Includes one data chart] ...

The CFPB last week ordered Mortgage Master Inc. and Washington Federal to pay $425,000 and $34,000, respectively, in civil penalties for allegedly violating the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, which requires certain mortgage lenders to accurately collect and report data about residential mortgages. In its HMDA reviews conducted at the two companies, the bureau said it found their compliance systems were inadequate and that they had severely compromised mortgage lending data. The CFPB said Mortgage Master had significant data...

Higher-priced mortgages accounted for a scant 1.0 percent of loan sales in 2012, according to an Inside Nonconforming Markets analysis of data from the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. Originations of higher-priced mortgages increased slightly compared with 2011 but the growth didn’t keep up with the increase in overall originations. Higher-priced first liens have an annual percentage rate at least 1.5 percentage points above the average prime offer rate. Federal regulators use the metric as a proxy for subprime mortgages. Some $15.80 billion in higher-priced mortgages were sold...[Includes one data chart]

HUD Delays Implementation of Short-Sale Participation Requirement. The implementation of the PFS Participation Requirement, which is found in Mortgagee Letter 2013-23, Updated Pre-Foreclosure Sale and Deed-in-Lieu-of-Foreclosure Requirements, has been delayed indefinitely. All other provisions included in the mortgagee letter remain in effect. Previous guidance on short-sale participation requirements also remain in effect until further notice. FHA to Consolidate Lender ID Numbers. The FHA will consolidate the lender identification numbers of those participating in both the FHA Title I and Title II programs, provided ...

Despite recovering house values in most markets, insufficient collateral remained the biggest obstacle for consumers trying to get mortgage financing in 2012, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data. In virtually every category of the market, loan applicants were more successful in getting approved for a mortgage last year than they were back in 2011, the HMDA data show. Some 15.5 percent of loan applicants were turned down last year ... [Includes one data chart]

Borrowers or loan officers misreporting income on loan applications at the height of the housing boom may have pushed up the default rate of high-income borrowers, according to a new Federal Reserve analysis of Home Mortgage Disclosure Data that was matched with non-HMDA credit data. Researchers Neil Bhutta and Glenn Canner of the Fed’s Division of Research and Statistics found that many borrowers classified as high-income may actually have had lower incomes than what they stated on applications, and ...

If mortgage lenders don’t have enough to worry about with six new major mortgage rules from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that all take effect in January, they also face a heavier Home Mortgage Disclosure Act reporting burden and perhaps a greater litigation threat from some developments at the bureau. Last week, as the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council was releasing the 2012 HMDA data, the CFPB came out with a set of online HMDA tools to enable consumers to explore mortgage application and loan data at a local level. “Just as the real estate motto ‘location, location, location’ was...

Mortgage lenders reported originating $2.01 trillion in home-purchase and refinance mortgages during 2012, a 43.7 percent increase from the prior year, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis of Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data released this week. Because HMDA data typically capture a relatively small share of home-equity originations and some small lenders don’t report at all, the total originations number for last year was somewhat higher. Interestingly, the origination volume grew...[Includes one data chart]

Of all the compliance problems uncovered during quality-control audits and reviews of mortgage loans, three are recurring with consistency during the origination phase and originators should pay close attention, said a quality-control specialist. Tommy Duncan, chief executive officer of Quality Mortgage Services and a certified mortgage technologist, said errors continue to happen even though lender compliance has improved from previous years. Overall, regulatory compliance on the ...