Paul Muolo

Bank of America originated just $16 billion of first and second liens in the first quarter, a 72% decline from the same period a year ago as the closing of its correspondent channel weighed heavily.

If GOP hopeful Mitt Romney has his way HUD will be killed and presumably so will the FHA program. It's election season and the candidate - hoping to appeal to conservatives - wants to stick a knife in HUD/FHA because, well, it's a cabinet level agency and cutting big government is a red meat move.

GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney was overheard this week saying that if elected he might eliminate the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which oversees the popular FHA program.

New mortgage applications rose almost 7% for the week ending April 7 thanks to falling interest rates, which spiked a surge in refinancings, including HARP activity.

For Residential Capital Corp. the shinola hit the fan on Tuesday. Early this morning ResCap filed a notice with the SEC saying it missed a scheduled payment on its debt Tuesday, laying the ground work for an eventual default - that is, if the payment is not made up within 30 days.

The residential mortgage division of Ally Financial Inc. missed a scheduled payment on its debt Tuesday, laying the ground work for an eventual default if the payment is not made up quickly.

Anthony J. Simich, a division vice president for eWarehouseOne, resigned from the firm late last week, telling National Mortgage News that the company is having trouble closing lines of credit.

Rumors are starting to surface that if and when a 'HARP 3.0' program is unveiled it will include non-GSE loans. As one commenter told us, "There are a lot of Alt-A loans that look just like GSE loans, but went to private investors. Why should they be punished because their loan was sold to the wrong investor?"

Citigroup, which exited the wholesale channel a few months back, funded $14.3 billion of home mortgages in the first quarter, a steep decline from the prior period.

With profit margins on harp 2.0 refinancings sky high, Wells Fargo & Co. has been putting caps on the loan-to-value ratio it will accept from third-party lenders.

Over the past two months National Mortgage News has been reporting on a mysterious warehouse lender called eWarehouseOne. Late this week we learned that Anthony J. Simich, a division vice president for the firm - and one of few employees there who actually returns phone calls and emails - resigned.

The correspondent lending division of GMAC Bank on Friday told its mortgage banking clients that it will "significantly" curtail government lending tied to FHA, VA and USDA, according to a memo provided to National Mortgage News.

Commercial mortgage banker Walker & Dunlop, Bethesda, Md., has hired three new producers in its capital markets group.

The headline sounds crazy. Loan brokers are on their backs, right? Well, not necessarily. If you've been reading the coverage in National Mortgage News and Origination News you know that wholesale (broker) lending as a percentage of the overall business has been rising - not by much but at least it's going in a positive direction (11% market share at last check.)

PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust has a struck a new master repurchase facility with Credit Suisse First Boston that will help the REIT fund its correspondent mortgage business.

JPMorgan Chase reported strong mortgage results for the first quarter, noting that residential applications rose 33% from the year ago period with chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon declaring that housing is "very close" to a bottom.

It's no secret that nontraditional players have been gobbling up mortgage servicing rights on the cheap, shifting the power structure in a business that has rapidly seen its fortunes wane during the nation's housing depression.

The need for sensible subprime residential lending (hard money, call it what you may) has never been greater, but I would venture that less than $1 billion of these loans were originated last year, and maybe that's a generous estimate. I know of a few mortgage executives who have tried in vain to raise private equity money but with no luck.

Mortgage rates on 30-year loans fell for the third consecutive week, easing fears that refinancings could slow dramatically.

The government controlled Ally Financial Thursday morning filed an amended S-1 statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, saying it hopes to sell $100 million worth of common stock to the general public.