Servicing

Redwood Trust on Tuesday closed its second jumbo MBS deal within 10 months, boasting that the economics on the transaction support private-sector financing of prime mortgages at rates within 0.5% of Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac instruments.

The Home Affordable Modification Program has helped more than 500,000 struggling borrowers with a median annual income of $46,000 remain in their homes, according to the Treasury Department, which found itself defending the program this week.

Mortgage application volume declined 6.5% for the week ending Feb. 25 even though the average contract rate for a 30-year fixed-rate loan fell 16 basis points, according to figures released Wednesday morning by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Thrift institutions originated $42.2 billion of single-family loans in the fourth quarter, up nearly 17% from the prior period, according to figures released by the Office of Thrift Supervision.

The Treasury Department, which controls almost 75% of Ally Financial, named investment banker John Durrett to the bank holding company's board of directors.

The 12 Federal Home Loan Banks have voluntarily agreed to rebuild their retained earnings now that their 20-year obligation of making interest payments on $300 billion of Resolution Funding Corp. bonds ends later this year.

Research data and analysis are adding up to industry fears that the Federal Housing Administration’s sharp loan volume increase of recent years is moving the agency “into uncharted, risky territory” making it more crucial than ever for policy makers to come up with “a delicate balancing act” that would ensure the FHA “is not pushed too far.”

PIMCO has received commitments of up to $1 billion to invest in jumbo mortgages as part of a conduit project which carries the working name of 'Project Bravo,' according to secondary market officials.

By the time you read this, the second jumbo MBS deal in 10 months will be wrapped up and sold to clamoring investors—but not without a minor controversy concerning the rating of this $290 million “nonconforming” bond.

Servicers are facing a challenging future where the way they redefine their risk-pricing measures will determine their ability to survive.What makes the challenge unprecedented, MBA’s chief economist Jay Brinkmann said at the National Mortgage Servicing Conference in Dallas, is a business environment where lenders are forced to take risks they have no control over.