With the increase, the average g-fee for new loans will be in the range of 60 basis points. But there is some good news: FHFA said it would eliminate the up-front “adverse market” fee of 25 bps assessed on all but the four states “whose foreclosure carrying costs are more than two standard deviations greater than the national average.”

Banks maintain huge reserves of roughly $21.3 billion to cover residential loan repurchase requests, Inside Mortgage Trends discovered.

Due diligence was completed on 33 percent of the loans by American Mortgage Consultants. The firm found compliance exceptions regarding Truth in Lending Act requirements, right to cancel and HUD-1 forms.

Borrowers with existing FHA-insured mortgages may continue to utilize the agency’s streamline refinance program regardless of their loan balance. The current cap of $271,050 for “low cost” areas will remain unchanged.

Bexil American Mortgage and its subsidiary appear to be in a growth mode. They're looking to buy a retail lender and MSRs.

Underwriting standards for loans in commercial MBS are loosening due to competition among issuers for volume, according to industry analysts. Issuers have also removed loans from two recent commercial MBS transactions due to pressure to come to the market quickly. “Increasing competition among commercial MBS loan originators raises the risk that they will further lower underwriting standards from the more stringent practices used in early second-generation commercial MBS 2.0 deals,” said Tad Philipp, director of commercial real estate research at Moody’s Investors Service. Analysts at Fitch Ratings said...

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, an internal cop for the U.S. securities industry, has proposed a narrower definition of “asset-backed security” to facilitate the reporting of certain transactions, including Rule 144A ABS transactions, to the group’s disclosure system. The new redefined ABS category would apply to a broad group of securities, including ABS pools backed by credit-card receivables, student loans, auto loans and other products and instruments that currently fall under the ABS umbrella. The proposed changes concern required reporting to FINRA’s Trade Reporting and Compliance Engine. Under FINRA’s proposal, ABS is...

The agencies securitized just $35.46 billion of refinance loans during November, down 15 percent from the previous month, and refinances accounted for 44 percent of total issuance.

Kroll Bond Rating Agency late this week released proposed criteria for rating non-QMs, making it the second rating service to formally seek comments on such criteria.

Brokers and the trade groups that represent them believe new regulations from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau put them at a competitive advantage to lenders that actually fund mortgages.