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Inside Nonconforming Markets

June 26, 2015

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Nonbank Servicers Oppose State Plan to Set Capital Requirements, Standards

Mortgage industry groups say a proposal from the Conference of State Bank Supervisors to establish capital requirements and other standards for nonbank servicers is unnecessary for an industry that’s already heavily regulated. State regulators proposed the standards in March due to concerns about exceptional growth in recent years by Ocwen Financial, Nationstar Mortgage and other nonbanks ... Read More

Bayview Casts Wider Net with Non-Agency Loans

Bayview Loan Servicing appears to be one of the few nonbanks offering non-agency products at competitive interest rates and holding the loans in portfolio. The lender has recently been pushing non-agency qualified mortgages and non-QMs for correspondent lenders and wholesalers. Bayview has been in the mortgage business for more than 18 years and is minority-owned by affiliates of The Blackstone Group. The lender offers a number of products for near-miss agency borrowers as well as non-QMs with guidelines that are more forgiving than those offered by jumbo lenders for similar products ... Read More

Variety Seen in Jumbo Underwriting Standards

While the characteristics of loans included in jumbo mortgage-backed securities continue to be strong overall, industry analysts note that there are significant differences in “soft” underwriting guidelines used by lenders. “Not all underwriting guidelines, and exceptions to guidelines, are created equal,” analysts at Morningstar Credit Ratings cautioned in a recent report. “Some originators recently have introduced programs that make qualifying for financing easier and require less income documentation.” The company, which is making a new push to rate jumbo MBS, reviewed the guidelines of a number of the most active jumbo originators and aggregators ... Read More

Statute of Limitations Ruling a Concern

A recent ruling by the New York Court of Appeals regarding the statute of limitations for representation-and-warranty claims on non-agency mortgage-backed securities has caused concerns for some participants in the new-issue jumbo MBS market. In ACE Securities v. DB Structured Products, the court ruled that the statute of limitations for claims of breaches of reps and warrants starts when a deal is closed, not when a potential breach is discovered. Lawyers involved in non-agency MBS were divided on how the ruling would impact issuance going forward ... Read More

Ocwen’s Servicing at Risk Due to Downgrade

Downgrades by Standard & Poor’s to numerous servicer ratings for Ocwen Financial could have a significant impact on the nonbank’s servicing operations. The rating service downgraded servicer ratings for Ocwen to “below average” last week, citing continued scrutiny by investors and regulators along with concerns about internal audits at Ocwen. As of the end of the first quarter of 2015, approximately 700 of the 4,100 non-agency servicing agreements handled by Ocwen had criteria regarding minimum servicer ratings ... Read More

Bank Home-Equity Loan Holdings Down Slightly

The amount of home-equity loans held by banks and thrifts as of the end of the first quarter of 2015 declined slightly compared with the end of 2014, according to the Inside Mortgage Finance Bank Mortgage Database. Banks and thrifts held a combined $974.0 billion in home-equity lines of credit, unused HELOC commitments and closed-end second liens at the end of the first quarter, down 0.9 percent from the previous quarter. Closed-end seconds accounted for 7.5 percent of the holdings, with the remaining balance divided fairly evenly between HELOCs and unused HELOC commitments ... [Includes one data table.] Read More

Mixed Response for Redwood’s Latest Innovation

A new feature Redwood Trust has included in its two most recent jumbo mortgage-backed securities has prompted support from AAA investors along with mixed reactions from rating services. The $356.45 million Sequoia Mortgage Trust 2015-2 issued in April and the $343.21 million Sequoia Mortgage Trust 2015-3 that was issued this week included a unique stop-advance feature. Servicers of the loans won’t be allowed to provide advances of principal and interest on loans that are 120+ days delinquent. The jumbo MBS were rated by Kroll Bond Rating Agency and Moody’s Investors Service ... Read More

Bank Holdings of Non-Agency MBS Dwindle

With issuance of non-agency mortgage-backed securities unable to keep pace with disappearing volume from vintage deals, bank and thrift holdings of non-agency MBS continue to decline. The holdings were down somewhat more than usual in the first quarter of 2015, suggesting sales by some banks. Banks and thrifts held $111.48 billion in non-agency MBS as of the end of the first quarter of 2015, according to the Inside Mortgage Finance Bank Mortgage Database. The holdings declined by 16.1 percent compared with the first quarter of 2014, including an 11.0 percent decline compared with the fourth quarter of 2014 ... [Includes one data table.] Read More

News Briefs

(*)Hatteras Financial agreed this week to acquire Pingora Asset Management and Pingora Loan Servicing. Hatteras said the acquisition will help the real estate investment trust acquire mortgage servicing rights, including MSRs on the REIT’s jumbo adjustable-rate mortgage flow business ... Read More

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