Golf is for slackers. Inside Mortgage Finance knows of at least four veteran mortgage banking executives who, after “retiring,” are looking to reenter the business.

Barry Habib, chief market strategist for RFC, confirmed that the privately held nonbank has closed branches but offered up few details.

Since the summer, the regulator has been pondering reducing the current $417,000 maximum loan limit and the “high cost” limit of $625,500. At the earliest, a change could come by January.

The CFPB also said it is exempting servicers from being required to provide periodic account statements and certain early intervention contacts with borrowers who are in bankruptcy.

Bank of America's mortgage business appears to be profitable but only if you exclude its legacy business.

MGIC wrote $8.6 billion in new business in 3Q, up from $8.0 billion and $6.5 billion in the second and first quarters, respectively.

How do you spell servicing relief? It all depends on who you ask. Meanwhile, First Guaranty Mortgage is entering the warehouse arena.

The low profile of the FHLBs, which has served the system so well in the past, has become a “sizable policy risk” as the relatively few people who will be directing housing finance reform know what the system does.

“The exodus of a majority of the pre-crisis nonbank entities within the mortgage arena provides an opportunity for banks to re-establish their position within the mortgage market,” according to regulators in Connecticut.

On the servicing side of the balance sheet, Citigroup reported $180.3 billion in third-party servicing rights, a 2 percent decline from the same period last year.