The Mortgage Bankers Association last week won affirmation of its July victory over the Department of Labor in the trade group’s appeal of a government policy that declared mortgage loan officers did not qualify under the administrative exemption to overtime pay. On Oct. 2, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia refused to grant a full-court review of its decision exactly three months earlier that sided with the MBA on how the DOL imposed overtime compensation requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The MBA filed...

PHH is the latest top ten-ranked residential lender to unveil mortgage layoffs. The workers were given 60-days notice.

What if the U.S. government actually defaults on its debt – what would that do to the value of MBS and Treasuries held on the balance sheet of banks? You may not want to know the answer.

In light of the court decision in the overtime pay case, the government must either appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court or start a formal rulemaking process to withdraw the 2006 opinion.

An assistant at CashCall tries to clear the air on the lender's sale. Meanwhile, the USDA mortgage program is dead, for now.

Has Paul Reddman given up trying to sell CashCall, the refi specialist? Meanwhile, MBS issuance got whacked in the third quarter.

The U.S. homeownership rate fell to 63.9 percent in 2012, according to figures compiled by the Census Bureau through its “American Community Survey.” In case you’re keeping tabs, it’s the fifth year in a row that the rate has gone south.

As the government shutdown continues and many federal workers go without pay checks, there’s a growing concern that these potential borrowers will see their credit scores get dinged.

Is refi specialist CashCall still on the auction block? It’s hard to say since the company doesn’t return telephone calls about the matter.

The much anticipated announcement on lower GSE loan limits could be pushed back to mid-October.