Paul Muolo

On Tuesday morning a Federal judge will hear arguments from the National Association of Mortgage Brokers and the Federal Reserve concerning a new motion filed by NAMB seeking a temporary restraining order against the central bank's loan officer compensation rule.

Walter Investment Management Corp. on Monday agreed to buy Green Tree Servicing, St. Paul — a specialty servicer — and its parent company in a deal valued at just over $1 billion.

J.I. Kislak Mortgage LLC, Miami Lakes, Fla., on Monday named industry veteran Felix Beck as an advisor to the fast growing company.

It's not easy out there for executives (past and present) who are at the helm of troubled institutions or firms that have already failed. Mortgage analyst Joe Garrett is predicting a spike in divorces among bank CEOs "whose banks get CAMELS-5 ratings and Prompt Corrective Action Letters in 2011."

Fannie Mae was kind enough to give National Mortgage News some guidance on what's going on regarding all those rumors we've been hearing about the GSE outsourcing some of its technology chores supposedly to IBM.

Not only are state attorneys general pushing the nation's megabanks to sign a servicing settlement tied to faulty foreclosure practices, but they want these institutions to sign a regulatory consent order, holding their boards' responsible for correcting deficiencies.

Although bidders on residential nonperforming loans are griping about a lack of available product, that's not the case over in the commercial space, according to Donald Cogsville of The Cogsville Group LLC, New York.

Mortgage bankers likely won't see any official proposals to revamp servicing compensation until late summer, Government National Mortgage Association president Ted Tozer said Friday morning.

The (combined) lawsuit filed by the National Association of Independent Housing Professionals, and the National Association of Mortgage Brokers against the Federal Reserve Board will be decided next week or so we're told by NAIHP chief Marc Savitt.

Freddie Mac purchased $38.9 billion of home mortgages from its seller/servicers in February, a slight gain from January, according to figures released Friday morning.

Kondaur Capital Corp., Orange, Calif., is the winning bidder on a 1,000 unit nonperforming mortgage portfolio auctioned off by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Aurora Loan Services continues to keep a tight seal on its plans for the future. The only thing we know for sure is that the company is once again originating loans (a good sign) but it's unlikely that ALS will be sold any time soon, especially with the issue of 'servicer compensation' hanging in the balance.

Institutional Risk Analytics on Wednesday issued a research note that blisters the mortgage insurance industry for lobbying to get MI coverage included in the definition of 'qualified residential mortgage.'

I've been kicking some tires the past few days, trying to get to the bottom of this whole 'risk retention' mess and how it applies to MBS collateralized by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans. As you may recall, last week HUD officials said GSE loans would not be exempt from risk retention meaning that anyone who issues MBS backed by Fannie/Freddie loans must retain 5% of the credit risk (whatever that means.)

SunTrust Banks late Tuesday named Jerome Lienhard president and chief executive officer of its mortgage division, the nation's 11th largest originator of residential loans.

In a new forecast on the housing market Fannie Mae economists remain cautious about demand citing "consumer uncertainty" which will translate into declining originations.

Kondaur Capital Corp., which a month ago slashed its loan workout staff by almost 40%, on Tuesday announced that it hired Mark Ferrara as managing director of its newly formed community banking group.

This week in a new article Barron's asks the rhetorical: Is the government's mortgage mission accomplished? Boy, oh boy. The last time someone declared 'Mission Accomplished' we all know what happened (Iraq). Then again, as we at National Mortgage News recently pointed out: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are now posting "operating" profits.

People's United Bank, which entered the warehouse space just a few months back, has already amassed applications of credit for almost $500 million, according to the company executive in charge of the program.

Community Trust Bank, Dallas, ended 2010 with $200 million of warehouse lending commitments on its books, according to newly released survey information.