A strong spring home-buying season and continued low rates are feeding optimism among selected lenders, fueling hopes that healthy production in May will lead to an even better June, according to interviews conducted by Inside Mortgage Finance. “May was bigger than April by 10 to 15 percent at both Skyline and New Leaf,” said Bill Dallas, CEO of Skyline Lending, Calabasas, CA. (New Leaf is the wholesale affiliate.) Not too long ago, Dallas wasn’t feeling all that optimistic about 2016. But that was then. “The year started out...

Warehouse commitment levels remained flat at $50.0 billion in the first quarter as a tepid origination market early in the year reduced the need for new lines, according to exclusive survey figures compiled by Inside Mortgage Finance. But with the first quarter firmly in the rearview mirror, warehouse executives are reporting a robust spring/early summer with new customers coming on board and nonbanks tapping more of the lines already committed to them. “We’ve had...[Includes one data table]

Wells Fargo, the nation’s top-ranked mortgage lender, appears to have escaped unscathed from the scrutiny the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau directed toward a former loan officer, an investigation which resulted in an $85,000 fine and a one-year ban from working in the mortgage industry. Last week, the CFPB announced a consent order with David Eghbali, formerly an LO for Wells’ Wilshire Crescent branch in Beverly Hills, CA, from November 2007 through July 2015. The bureau accused him of referring a substantial number of loan closings to a single escrow company, New Millennium Escrow, Inc., which allegedly shifted its fees from some customers to others at his request. “In exchange for the flexibility to shift fees from some loans to others, respondent [Eghbali] referred...

Two of the deals offer a range of $50 million to $100 million per month in GSE servicing rights and have a bid deadline of early next week.

Ten trade organizations and community groups this week sent a letter to FHFA Director Mel Watt imploring him to suspend the quarterly GSE dividend paid to the Treasury Department...

Chimera retained about 15.0 percent of all three of the non-agency MBS...

However, another industry participant noted: “It is our understanding that the TRID compliance exams have begun..."

The banking industry sold $145.3 billion of home mortgages during the first quarter, a 5.1 percent decline from the previous period.

Many cite compliance spending, in particular the hiring of attorneys, for the increase in costs.

Fannie Mae’s Robert Schaefer said there is a “high probability” the mortgage giant will be part of an MI transaction later this year that addresses the “pain points” the GSE sees in the deeper MI concept.