Paul Muolo

It’s no secret that the mortgage industry – after hearing from its customers – is clamoring for a HARP 3.0 refi solution for underwater loans that are not guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But how do we get there?

A representative for eWarehouseOne is trying to place roughly $70 million of applications with at least two other banks.

Ally Financial’s nonbank warehouse lending customers are searching for back-up lines of credit, fearing the government-owned lender may soon cut back.

MetLife Inc. said it will exit the reverse lending business selling the division to Nationstar Mortgage of Texas.

Getting licensed to be a mortgage loan officer is simple – or so some readers have told us. But we’ve also heard stories about failure rates in some states approaching 40%.

Residential Capital Corp./GMAC earned $217 million in the first quarter, but its residential originations plummeted by 53%, as the near-closing of its correspondent division weighed heavily.

Tongues are clucking in the industry about the death of the ‘transitory’ license with many nonbank loan officers believing that their depository brethren are at a financial disadvantage.

Mortgage applications fell by almost 4% for the seven-day period ending April 20 after a brief week of improvement, according to new figures compiled by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

In a few weeks we’ll know whether the Treasury Department’s third largest investment in housing/mortgages will file for bankruptcy protection. I’m talking about Residential Capital Corp./GMAC, which recently missed a bond payment and has 30-days to make good on it.

Don Curtis, vice president of business development for Carrrington Mortgage Services, Santa Ana, Calif., has left the company.

A $20 billion package of residential mortgage servicing rights being offered by Bank of America has yet to trade even though the bidding ended about two weeks ago, according to investment bankers familiar with the deal.

Just how healthy is the warehouse lending business today? The answer boils down to this: If you can't obtain a line of credit in the current market, then something must be wrong with your shop.

PHH Corp. hired Robert Crowl as executive vice president, effective April 26, setting him up to eventually become the company’s chief financial officer.

Late last week, I talked to one mortgage analyst who said some firms he’s looked at earned more money in the first quarter than they did all of last year. That’s great news for the mortgage industry, but of course this one anecdote does not apply to all.

Whole Loan Capital, LLC, New York, is in the market with a $4.8 billion 'flow' servicing deal that will be sourced through a handful of different lenders.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau poked its thumb in the eye of residential loan officers originating mortgages for depositories.

It's no secret that over the past three years the megabanks have run screaming from the third-party lending sector, abandoning correspondent lenders and loan brokers alike. Bank of America and TPO: Gone. Citigroup and TPO: gone. Ally Financial: Just about gone. But there's a growing trend of mid-sized and regional banks that see a huge opportunity in wholesale and correspondent.

Until not too long ago eWarehouseOne had a policy: if a firm didn't pass the application review stage, the company would return the mortgage banker's money. At least that's what company vice president Anthony Simich told National Mortgage News last month.

Ally Financial is continuing talks with Nationstar about the REIT buying Residential Capital Corp./GMAC through a 'prepackaged' bankruptcy transaction, according to investment bankers familiar with the companies.

Election time is like the Wild West: anything can, and will, happen. Yesterday our page views went through the roof when we blogged about GOP hopeful Mitt Romney floating the idea of getting rid of HUD. So far, Romney hasn't backed down from the idea (that we know of), but professionals who are serious about this industry know full well that killing HUD at this point in the recovery would cause housing to crater yet again.