Paul Muolo

Lenders of all different sizes continue to receive buyback requests from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—sometimes on loans that are upwards of five years old.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency has ordered Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac not to pursue any deficiency judgments against members of the military if they are forced to short sale their home and if the mortgagor is required to move as part of their duty.

To correspondent mortgage sellers and loan brokers, the ‘coincidental’ move by certain megabanks to only refinance FHA Streamlines that they are already servicing is a way to lock them out of the business.

The public relations department of JPMorgan Chase has finally made up its mind: the megabank will only engage in FHA Streamline refinancings on loans that it presently services.

When I suggested yesterday that mortgage lenders might contemplate an origination ‘strike’ as a bargaining tool to kill overly zealous regulations the idea was to have banks and nonbanks alike participate in such an action of civil disobedience.

Due diligence provider Allonhill has hired former mortgage banker Mark Korell as its chief sales and marketing officer.

Mortgage applications decreased by just under 1% for the week ending June 15, but FHA refinancings soared.

Mortgage bankers and brokers (banks and nonbanks alike) could call a national strike on making any new loans for, say, 60 days and see what type of damage that does to the U.S. economy.

U.S. consumers owed $8.995 trillion on their residential loans at the end of March—the lowest debt figure recorded in almost five years.

PHH Mortgage said it will no longer accept new FHA Streamline refinancings from correspondent lenders unless it is already servicing the loan, according to a memo provided to National Mortgage News.

It could be the most underserved part of the market: investors stuck with rental properties – and who don’t want to default – need to refinance but can’t because they’re underwater on home equity.

THE RAJ DATE SAGA CONTINUES: We’re told that the National Association of Mortgage Brokers is very concerned with the recent broker bias comments from CFPB deputy director Raj Date. One NAMB official said the trade group “has sent a letter to the CFPB regarding the comments and have formally requested a meeting to discuss."

Wells Fargo & Co. ended March with $1.84 trillion of residential servicing contracts on its books, once again ranking first—but barely growing its market share.

FCI Lender Services recently took in $106.5 million worth of servicing assignments on nonperforming loans pools purchased by private investors.

To hear some nonbank lenders talk about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau you would think they were dealing with Dracula or something.

Richard Kovacevich just can't let it go. The ex-Wells Fargo chief executive who once famously called the Troubled Asset Relief Program "asinine," this week used even more colorful language to describe a program that many credit for rescuing the banking industry and staving off economic catastrophe.

The Mortgage Bankers Association has formed a select committee to find a replacement to departing president David Stevens with 15 candidates being thrown into the pool.

Is 68 years young the time to re-enter the wild and wooly world of mortgage banking? Answer: It is, if your name is Bill Starkey Sr. and you feel the current “down market” offers so much opportunity that it can’t be ignored.

The Census Bureau said the number of housing units in the U.S. increased a scant 0.36% last year to 132.3 million.

If CFPB is successful in killing nonbank brokers who’s to say the agency won’t go after nonbank servicers next? That would mean all those REITs buying MSRs might be in danger.