Matt Scully

It's a mortgage on top of a mortgage, and at least one lender is making these loans again through brokers.

TCF Financial took $44 million in charges to rid itself of mortgages made before the housing collapse. A distressed-asset investor purchased more than $400 million in loans from the company, and another pool of bad mortgages may be marked for sale soon.

Joining the hunt for higher-yielding niche loans, the asset management unit of NewOak Capital has quietly launched a private fund to acquire nonqualified residential mortgages.

Homeowners associations seeking unpaid dues are seizing on a court decision allowing them to foreclose on properties ahead of banks, and the FHFA is litigating to defend Fannie and Freddie mortgages. Private lenders, meanwhile, are trying to keep the problem from spreading to more states.

The Ocwen spinoff Altisource Portfolio Services delivered notices to more than 800 employees and hundreds of contractors this week as part of the company's scramble to reassure investors.

Capital markets hold the key to the future for the consolidating Wall Street landlords, but the path through is downright bloody.

Freddie Mac in the next month plans to approve three more lenders, including one bank, to make multifamily loans between $1 million and $5 million for GSE purchase and securitization, according to an official. Banks were not initially courted.

American Homes 4 Rent, the largest publicly traded investor in single-family rental homes, has acquired a pool of properties from a subsidiary of Ellington Management Group, in what could be a sign of further consolidation in the industry.

As the real estate market ramps back up, lenders are looking for ways to diversify their portfolios, even if the returns are slim.

Marketplace lender Social Finance may pursue a larger initial public offering than expected, CEO Mike Cagney said. Progress in its mortgage business and a new lending app will be pivotal to the company's future, he said.

A bankruptcy court judge sunk investors' hopes in their latest lawsuit against Lehman Brothers, which they claim broke contracts in junk mortgage-backed securities sold during the bubble years.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac updated their representation and warranties frameworks in a move designed to encourage mortgage lenders to ease credit restrictions by limiting repurchase requirements.

The New York unit of Japanese securities firm Nomura Holdings may be three traders short after reportedly placing them on leave, but the firm is said to have muscled away a large auction held yesterday.

Ocwen Financial is making progress to settle allegations against it, but that does not mean it will be cheap, one analyst says. The current servicing freeze in the industry has grown so serious that some say it may be delaying the government’s goals to expand the availability of mortgage credit.

Private investors backing firms like RPM Mortgage are placing bets on lenders in the U.S. home loan business once dominated by Wall Street's largest banks.

BlackRock managed the year's largest sale of legacy mortgage assets Tuesday. Credit Suisse submitted a winning bid and quickly resold as much as 40% of the U.S. mortgage paper it bought.

New York banking regulator Benjamin Lawsky is sending a new warning shot over the bow of Ocwen Financial, which has been scrutinized by regulators for more than a year.

The institutionalization of peer lending is pulling banks into more competitive bidding for loans as originators expand into newer and untested asset classes, such as online real estate loans.

Deutsche Bank officials have received the go-ahead to finance U.S. home lenders, something it has not done since the financial crisis. The bank's plan is to finance a small, but potentially much larger, mortgage segment that falls outside government standards.

Citigroup CEO Michael Corbat reflected with Warburg Pincus CEO Joseph Landy and Paulson & Co. CEO John Paulson on the growth paradigm of tomorrow’s financial markets, the role of shadow banking within it and how the world for megabanks has become permanently smaller.