FICO

Millennial homeowners took advantage of April's drop in mortgage rates by quickly securing refinance loans, which closed faster than purchases for the first time since March 2016, according to Ellie Mae.

Consumers' knowledge of the mortgage process and what it takes to purchase a home has not improved from four years ago and lenders have an opportunity to fill that need, Fannie Mae said.

Plaza Home Mortgage has improved its pricing for certain jumbo loans that Fannie Mae's automated underwriting system approves, but categorizes as ineligible due to loan size.

Mortgage rates descended through the onset of spring's home buying season, pushing up the share of refinance loans and volume of new-home purchase applications, according to Ellie Mae and the MBA.

Mortgage rates continued to decline through the spring home buying season, driving up the share of refinance loans and overall closing rates, according to Ellie Mae.

The Federal Housing Administration is returning to manual reviews of higher-risk loans it insures because it's finding that a growing share have lower credit scores, higher debt-to-income ratios, or both.

The specialty finance company is contributing all of the collateral for the $259.7 million deal; by comparison, the previous deal included collateral contributed by Goldman Sachs.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency has proposed barring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from using credit scores developed by VantageScore over concern about conflicts of interest with the joint venture of Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

Average credit scores for mortgage borrowers remain at a 2018 high, a sign that lenders aren't easing standards despite refinance candidates already falling off on higher rates, according to Ellie Mae.

Subprime originations are climbing in multiple consumer loan categories, including mortgages, but the increase is much smaller in the home loan sector than it is in other markets, according to TransUnion.