Finance

Fannie Mae guaranteed $7.1 billion of new multifamily MBS during the first quarter, its best issuance volume since the advent of the credit crisis four years ago.

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.

Cole Taylor Mortgage saw its revenues increase by 94% on a sequential basis in the first quarter while its mortgage servicing portfolio more than doubled in size, according to new figures released by the company.

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.

The White House budget office estimates that losses caused by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's reckless management and lending policies will shrink over the next 10 years and cost the U.S. Treasury just $28 billion.

More than five months after the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) 2.0 was announced and there is not much seen in terms of the program's impact on prepayment data, according to FTN Financial in a report released this week.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York Wednesday said it has started a competitive bid process for commercial real estate collateralized debt obligation holdings in the Maiden Lane III LLC portfolio.

New issue, private-label MBS backed by either recent vintage or seasoned loans funded since the downturn have generally had some type of mechanism to enforce and/or clarify parameters for repurchases, a Moody's Investors Service analyst told National Mortgage News.

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.

U.S. Bancorp saw its mortgage banking revenue more than double in the first quarter, originating roughly $19 billion of residential loans, according to figures released Tuesday.

Mortgage standards are already too tight and the Consumer Financial Protection Agency should not make them even tighter in drafting a final 'qualified mortgage' rule, according to a new letter signed by 33 lender, housing and consumer groups.

Private-label residential MBS interest shortfalls and liquidity disruptions that Standard & Poor's has been observing are likely to continue for some time, a credit analyst said in an online broadcast.

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?"

Mortgage lenders issued $29.2 billion of GNMA MBS in March, up 5% from the prior month as securitizations of jumbo and multifamily loans surged, according to new figures released by the government.

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.

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.

Comments about the Property Assessed Clean Energy program that the Federal Housing Finance Agency asked for came in recently with environmental advocates and local government representatives calling for Fannie Mae and Freddie to find a way to deal with the lien dilemma the program presents so as not to restrict the use of PACE loans.

Three banks suing MBIA Inc. accused the bond insurer of deliberately withholding damaging financial projections from insurance regulators who were evaluating its transformation.