The VA

To protect veterans from predatory lending practices, Ginnie Mae and the Department of Veterans Affairs should remove lenders' financial incentive for originating Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loans.

Mortgage applications increased 3.6% from one week earlier even though rates remained mostly flat during the period, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Ginnie Mae and the Department of Veterans Affairs have described in more detail the VA loan refinancing practices they will crack down on to eliminate a long-running churning concern.

The share of mortgage refinance applications dropped below 50% for the first time since the start of September, as interest rates rose to a six-week high.

Slightly looser underwriting outside the government sector is primarily responsible for the latest increase in credit availability.

Building off the success of policy changes in 2016, there are now even more ways for mortgage lenders to help student loan borrowers become homeowners.

A decline in refinancing applications offset the gain in purchase activity, leading to an overall drop in application activity of 0.4% from one week earlier.

Mortgage application activity decreased 0.5% from one week earlier as a decline in refinance volume was only partially offset by an increase in purchases.

Despite an uptick in interest rates, refinance loans held steady in August and closing rates reached a new 2017 high.

A federal judge awarded treble damages totaling $296 million in a False Claims Act case alleging Texas lender Allied Home Mortgage defrauded the Federal Housing Administration mortgage program.