Compliance & Regulation

The homebuilder's mortgage unit, which mostly serves new homebuyers, has acquired retail originator Pinnacle Mortgage as part of an effort to spread the mounting costs of compliance over more loans.

Disclosing loan-level data is crucial to rebuilding investor confidence in mortgage-backed securities. It also introduces the risk of compromising borrowers' personal information.

CoreLogic has agreed to add Equifax's the Work Number platform to Credco, its verification-of-employment service.

Stewart Title Co. has acquired quality control firm Wetzel Trott in a move to expand its origination and servicing audit and due diligence services.

Efforts to overhaul the housing-finance system could hinge on how far Congress is willing to go to ensure that young, low-income and minority homebuyers can get mortgages.

Citigroup Inc. agreed to pay $1.13 billion to settle claims from mortgage-bond investors as it seeks to curb liabilities tied to the financial crisis.

After a year in which bankers have voiced steady opposition to the qualified mortgage rule, more than a third now say they will make non-QM loans in targeted markets, a major reversal from the industry's past stance.

Prospective homeowners are increasingly more optimistic, with 38% of respondents to Fannie Mae's March 2014 National Housing Survey saying it is a good time to sell a home, compared to 26% a year ago.

The National Association of Realtors estimates that the Federal Housing Administration's 1.35% annual premium stopped at least 125,000 renters from buying a home last year.

After slogging through several quarters of high expenses and shrinking profits, some lenders are now selling mortgage servicing rights to raise cash to cover payroll and expenses, industry sources say.