Garth Graham, head of Stratmor Group’s marketing strategy and execution practice, said lenders should use the leads and data they already have.

Is Ed DeMarco unimpressed with Fannie and Freddie's return to profitability? “…we should keep the recent reports of positive net income in perspective,” he told the audience of the Bipartisan Policy Center this week. “Much of it has been related to one-time adjustments..."

The Federal Housing Finance Agency should think twice, then disregard any plans to further cut the multifamily business of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to the ranking member of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and GSEs. In a letter to the FHFA earlier this month, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-NY, noted that since the Finance Agency implemented “an arbitrary” 10 percent cut in GSE multifamily business for 2013, “an additional reduction further depresses the housing market nationwide, reduces the availability of rental housing, and actually harms the financial stability” of Fannie and Freddie by limiting proven revenue-generating opportunities.

Roughly 4,100 people have registered to attend the annual convention of the Mortgage Bankers Association, which launches Sunday night in Power City USA.

California was the biggest source of private MI loans for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but the state doesn’t dominate the GSE insured market the way it does in other measures.

U.S. prosecutors estimate that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac lost almost $850 million (gross) from Countrywide's "Hustle" program. However, at the time, BofA didn't even own CFC.

As directed by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac this year established a three-year sunset period for most reps and warrants on loans with perfect payment histories.

A senior executive at Residential Finance Corp. confirmed that the company’s chief financial officer Nick Hahn left the lender/servicer last month, but has since been replaced.

But there was good news from Cole Taylor Mortgage as well. The company’s servicing portfolio is up to $16 billion in receivables.

Mortgage lenders far and wide have been laying off full-time staffers by the thousands over the past month as the industry adjusts to both lower originations and a lighter workload tied to the servicing of problem loans. The latest casualties include Wells Fargo, which recently announced plans to cut an additional 925 mortgage “team members” across the U.S.; SunTrust (800 positions); Mortgage Investors Corp. (500); and CashCall (486). Wells cut 5,300 mortgage workers in the third quarter alone, but that figure does not include the latest bloodletting. JPMorgan Chase estimates by the time 2013 ends it will have cut 11,000 mortgage-related jobs. Moreover, according to officials at executive search firms, now mortgage vendors are...