Amilda Dymi

In June the unpaid principal balance of Freddie Mac's total mortgage portfolio declined 2.6% from a year earlier, to $1.89 trillion, as total purchases shrank by almost half.

Regions Bank in Birmingham, Ala. has been approved as a Fannie Mae Delegated Underwriting and Servicing multifamily lender and acquired the servicing on a $1 billion Fannie apartment loan portfolio.

A continued but modest rebound in the housing market and overall economy during the second half of 2014 are not likely to offset the sluggish pace of activity during the first two quarters of the year.

Mortgage origination volume for the second quarter will come in at $275 billion, a 17% increase from the previous quarter driven by a seasonal increase in purchase activity, according to Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analysts.

ReadyCap Lending has acquired CIT Small Business Lending from its parent CIT Group, including $1.3 billion in servicing rights on loans guaranteed by the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Second-quarter earnings nearly doubled at Home Loan Servicing Solutions, despite a significant jump in operating expenses, as prepayments remained low and the rate of liquidations of seriously delinquent loans recovered.

MGIC Investment in Milwaukee reported a nearly fourfold jump in income for the second quarter driven primarily by lower incurred losses as new insurance increased.

HomeStreet Bank will provide home loan financing and homeownership education to students, alumni and staff of Western Governors University Washington.

First Commonwealth Financial Corp. in Indiana, Pa., has launched a new residential mortgage banking division.

PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust has entered into a repurchase agreement with Bank of America to finance roughly $550 million in newly originated mortgage loans, though its subsidiary PennyMac Operating Partnership.

Fiserv and ChannelNet have added a feature to LoanLink, their borrower self-service tool, that lets distressed consumers apply online to restructure their mortgage or installment loans.

SharperLending, which runs a platform where lenders order settlement services from vendors, now offers employment and income verifications through The Work Number.

Churchill Mortgage has launched an employee training program that focuses on the housing needs of borrowers who are 18 to 34 years old.

The nation's inventory of homes in some stage of foreclosure declined 4.8% in May from April, the 31st straight month-to-month drop, CoreLogic reported.

National mortgage banker GMH Mortgage Services is opening a wholesale lending division.

FormFree Holdings, a mortgage technology vendor in Athens, Ga., has appointed John Sheppard, a former Coca-Cola International executive, to be its president and chief operating officer.

Fay Servicing, a special servicer based in Chicago, has created a division to manage foreclosed properties.

New York State has launched Mortgage Assistance Program, a loan modification alternative for borrowers at the brink of foreclosure.

A new analysis by TransUnion gauges just how much the reporting of on-time rental payments can improve consumers' credit scores, especially for those with blemished credit.

The guidance aims to protect Home Equity Conversion Mortgage borrowers from "presentations that appear to limit their options," the agency says.