Neil Ahuja, CEO of Premium Point, said the firm is keeping its options open.

The Freddie portfolio includes loans from all 50 states with California receivables having the largest market share at 18.6 percent.

Mortgage M&A historians might recall that last decade, before the financial crisis struck, Countrywide Financial Corp. was in serious talks to buy PHH’s mortgage business...

“I think that criticism is badly misplaced,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray during a speech before the Consumer Bankers Association in Phoenix.

Refinance activity was heavy in the first half of 2015, and jumbo borrowers typically have more to gain by pulling the refi trigger.

PHH has retained Credit Suisse Securities and J.P. Morgan as financial advisors and Jones Day as legal advisor “to assist in the process.”

Among the top 10 non-agency jumbo mortgage producers in 2015 just two are nonbanks: PHH Mortgage and Redwood Trust.

In some quarters, experts wonder how much more nonbanks can grow given capital concerns and interest rate volatility.

In dollars and cents, additional spending at Fannie totaled $726 million over the four-year period, while at Freddie the reading was a more benign $376 million.

Zais said a strategic review of the REIT will continue, including exploration of a possible sale or even a liquidation of the company’s assets.