Origination

Gateway Mortgage Group, Tulsa, Okla., this week launched a new correspondent lending division that will purchase conforming and government loans from depositories and mortgage bankers, with the aim of retaining the servicing rights.

You pick up the phone. The person on the line starts the conversation by asking what the interest rate is on your 30-year fixed rate loan.

Lenders increasingly want to control the marketing done by individual originators due to increasing industry compliance concerns, according to one vendor in the space.

Federal Housing Administration single-family endorsements rose 9.5% in January from the prior month while the percentage of seriously delinquent government loans inched up to 9.8%.

Electronic signatures have been legal in the United States since 2000. But a lack of acceptance at the Federal Housing Administration and the Internal Revenue Service has prevented some lenders, even technologically advanced ones, from using the technology for any mortgage documents.

Viewpoint Bank, Plano, Texas ended the year with $1.15 billion of warehouse commitments on its books, a 53% gain over 12 months.

Recent revisions made to the Home Affordable Refinancing Program appear to have sparked an increase in loan applications, raising hopes that more underwater mortgages could refinance.

There was nearly $5 billion in primary new insurance in January written by the members of the Mortgage Insurance Cos. of America, down from $5.8 billion in December.

Fannie Mae saw its secondary market purchases fall by 20% in January while its cross town competitor, Freddie Mac, experienced a 10% gain, a sign that, perhaps, the Bank of America "problem" could be affecting the business of the two GSEs.

The average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage slipped five basis points to 3.9% in Freddie Mac's closely watched primary market rate survey for the week ending March 1.