Finance

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.

Commercial banks reported 25% growth on an annualized basis in their loan portfolios for the week ending June 6, led by a 75% annualized increase in single-family mortgages ($22 billion).

The Securities and Exchange Commission has appointed Thomas Butler as director of the agency's new office of credit ratings.

Structured finance investors would prefer to rely on fewer sources of pricing for tracking deals, according to 107 investors in the industry surveyed by Principia Partners.

It doesn’t sound like agency mortgage repurchase requests are going to end any time soon, even though many originators are doing their best to batten down the hatches. Instead, word is these requests continue to increase.

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."

Greece's RMBS sector would be one of the victims of the country's exit from the euro zone, which appears increasingly likely in the run-up to June 17 elections between parties supporting and opposing austerity measures, a condition of the country's bailout.

Franklin Credit Management Corp. has closed on the acquisition of a mixed performing and nonperforming loan portfolio with an aggregate unpaid principal balance of approximately $100 million.

The one company to consistently aggregate jumbo loans for securitizations since the downturn has received an originator assessment from Moody’s Investors Service that finds it is “above average.”

The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Section 184 mortgage is the most successful loan ever to target American Indians.

As wards of the same federal conservator, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac rarely diverge these days, but when they do it speaks volumes about where the two companies are headed.

Researchers at Andrew Davidson & Co. found that by some measures “affordability” has not risen since the housing bubble burst, but rather remained about the same.

Careful selection of homebuilder stocks, based on geographic markets and strategies, might be attractive to some investors.

Fannie Mae, which boasts a “credit enhanced” delinquency rate of roughly 8% on its guaranteed loans, is moving closer to launching a pilot program to dispose of some of that product.

The Government National Mortgage Association is in no rush to sell the $11.5 billion of mortgage servicing rights that it inherited almost two years ago when nonbank lender/servicer Taylor, Bean & Whitaker failed.

New York State is seeking to take control of bond insurer Financial Guaranty Insurance Co.

The surge in Federal Housing Administration lending after the housing bust may turn out to be the mortgage insurance fund’s salvation.

According to new reports, both Berkshire Hathaway, the holding company controlled by Warren Buffett, and Ocwen Financial have expressed interest in buying the nation’s fifth largest servicer.

A loss mitigation technique barely on the radar screen five years ago now is holding out hope that servicers can start moving their logjams of delinquent mortgages down the river and start resuming more normal operations.

A new wave of credit downgrades on the nation's megabanks could hit the market this week, causing nervousness among investors.