Servicing

Even with the housing market stabilizing and a settlement between megaservicers and state AGs on the horizon, the mortgage industry shouldn't expect an increase in originations next year, according to a new forecast from Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.

An industry hedge fund that selectively trades distressed mortgage assets is testing the use of borrower rewards for timely payment, with the aim of driving better performance, refinancing or modifications.

The deadline to nominate industry professionals to serve on MISMO's residential governance committee is today.

Although insurance giant MetLife Inc. is contemplating bids for its banking and mortgage divisions, the company's warehouse lending unit is nearing the $1 billion mark in terms of commitments.

Perhaps the future for loan brokers isn't so bleak after all. Wholesale lenders table funded almost $33 billion of loans in the third quarter, giving the channel a 9.2% market share, according to new figures compiled by National Mortgage News and the Quarterly Data Report.

Just seven months ago, Democrats appeared to be boxed in, unable to confirm a leader to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau without agreeing to demands from Senate Republicans to overhaul the agency's structure.

The federal government should create an entirely new secondary market agency for "high quality" private mortgages that would replace Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga.

Barclays Capital has a cautious outlook for both residential and commercial mortgage credit, its researchers indicated in their global outlook report Thursday.

The Mortgage Bankers Association, in a new comment letter, strongly urges the government not to change the current GSE servicing compensation model, shooting down a FHFA proposal that would pay loan processors $10 per month for performing loans.

Thanks to a growing refinancing boom that gathered steam in the third quarter, small mortgage banking companies benefited as their profits per loan more than doubled during the period.