Forget (for now) the story about Bank of America scuttling the sale of $14 billion of high-touch mortgage servicing rights. Inside Mortgage Finance is hearing that over the past several weeks the megabank was looking to unload upwards of $300 billion in MSRs, or at least talking about it to select buyers. BofA, as we pointed out, doesn’t talk about its servicing sales, though it does acknowledge them (sometimes) in its earnings calls with analysts.…

In an email message to his members on Friday, Mortgage Bankers Association president David Stevens noted that the fiscal cliff deal “does not substantially limit the mortgage interest deduction” but “it does phase out itemized deductions for certain higher income households.”

Impac Mortgage, one of the fastest growing funders among the top 100, has hired Mike Casey and Matthew Dismore to bolster its correspondent lending division.

Promontory Financial this week laid off between 750 and 1,000 workers in the Denver area, many of them working on loan reviews tied to delinquent and foreclosed mortgages, industry sources told Inside Mortgage Finance.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has hired Lisa M. Applegate as head of mortgage rule implementation, an official told Inside the CFPB.

Before we get to the main event (the ‘Qualified Mortgage’ rule), it’s time to consider the improving fate of Fannie Mae, which is poised to have a few coming quarters of blow-out earnings – which will go directly into the coffers of the U.S. Treasury Department, much to the delight of the newly nominated secretary Jack Lew.

The Obama administration may want to think twice before moving ahead with reported plans to replace Edward DeMarco, the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s acting director, says a long time industry observer.

Outside the weather’s frightful – and inside the loan closings are piling up like snow drifts in Northern Minnesota.

ES Appraisal Services, Jacksonville, FL, has closed its doors, the second national appraisal management company to have gone bust in the past year. It also uses the trade name eValuation Solutions LLC.

Pacific Premier Bank, Costa Mesa, CA, is looking for a new warehouse lending executive to replace Bill Owen, who departed the company a few weeks ago.