Walter’s stock price has declined by about 80 percent in the past year due to regulatory issues and other pressure on nonbank servicers...

Some 4.0 million mortgage borrowers had negative equity at the end of the first quarter of 2016, down 21.5 percent from the first quarter of 2015.

Equity Prime Mortgage of Atlanta said it’s hiring in all areas, including sales, servicing, operations and compliance…

Rumor has it that a mid-sized nonbank based in the Western U.S. is entertaining takeover offers...

The former Wells LO added: “I was bullied into entering the consent order because the CFPB left me no other reasonable choice.”

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...

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...

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...

Are "fintech" firms spending enough money on mortgage compliance?

Some potential investors in new non-agency MBS insist that a deal agent or transaction manager is necessary to revive the non-agency MBS market. Some issuers are willing to include a deal agent in their securities, though the exact functions and pricing issues still need to be worked out. “Many potential buyers of residential MBS have a strong desire for improved transaction governance mechanisms such as the use of independent deal agents,” Moody’s Investors Service said in a report published late last week. The rating service recently held a meeting with investors, issuers and others involved in the non-agency MBS market. Moody’s said...