Finance

The Russian ruble is in freefall — it's down more than 50% since January — and interest rates are climbing on the back of the Bank of Russia's aggressive efforts to shore up the embattled currency.

More than two dozen Senate lawmakers signed a letter this week that urges the Federal Housing Finance Agency to drop its proposal to tighten Federal Home Loan Bank membership rules.

The deal resolved claims relating to the underwriting and servicing of loans in more than 300 residential mortgage-backed securitization trusts.

A new report suggests that the credit quality of residential mortgage-backed securities will continue to improve in 2015.

The amount of commercial and multifamily mortgage debt outstanding rose to a record high in the third quarter, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Nicholas Schorsch, American Realty Capital Properties Inc.'s former executive chairman, is walking away from a compensation package valued at about $100 million, company filings show.

If the Securities and Exchange Commission bans Standard & Poor's from rating commercial mortgage-backed securities, as it is reportedly planning to, bonds backed by a single, large asset would be hit disproportionately, according to JPMorgan.

Marketplace lender Social Finance may pursue a larger initial public offering than expected, CEO Mike Cagney said. Progress in its mortgage business and a new lending app will be pivotal to the company's future, he said.

The third and final part of this series tells how to establish a business model acceptable to the CFPB.

The Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corp. has given its president and chief executive, Timothy Buzby, a two-year extension on his employment contract.

While evolving market conditions have made retaining servicing rights more attractive to independent mortgage bankers, making the right choice between an in-house operation or engaging with a subservicer is critical to the new business line's success.

HUD officials had taken a neutral position on whether FHA financing would be available for loans that were seized by cities and written down to their current appraised value.

Commercial mortgage-backed securities risk as measured by an index of underwriting and macroeconomic variables is up 11 points from 2013. That's still below its 2007 level, a researcher noted Thursday.

A bankruptcy court judge sunk investors' hopes in their latest lawsuit against Lehman Brothers, which they claim broke contracts in junk mortgage-backed securities sold during the bubble years.

New Residential Mortgage priced $504 million of bonds backed by a pool of mostly reperforming residential mortgages, according to Standard & Poor's.

For the first time, there is a subservicer, Cenlar FSB, handling the servicing function for more than $200 billion in mortgage loans.

Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt's decision Thursday to stand up the affordable housing trust funds sharply divided lawmakers along party lines, with Democrats welcoming the decision as overdue while Republicans denounced it as a mistake.

The Steve Fraser Visionary Award is a lifetime achievement award that honors the accomplishments of an outstanding mortgage technology innovator, visionary or evangelizer. Learn about this year's finalists and see who won the 2014 MT Award.

After a six-year delay, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will finally begin setting aside a portion of their revenues to fund the development of rental housing for low-income families.

Radian Group Inc. is seeking to sell bond insurer Radian Asset and Assured Guaranty or MBIA may turn out to be the buyer.