Secondary

With low rates tempting more home owners to refinance and relaxed down payment requirements spurring more home sales, bankers are more optimistic about mortgage lending than they have been in some time.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency's warning that so called super-priority liens on houses do not come before Freddie Mac's bodes well for investors in the mortgage giant's latest risk-sharing transaction, according to Moody's Investors Service.

Freddie Mac has planned its first Extended Timeline Pool Offering, the government-sponsored entity announced this week.

Credit Suisse is marketing its third RMBS deal this year called CSMC 2015-3.

Increasing foreclosure levels in Atlantic County, N.J., are a credit negative for the government, hit hard by Atlantic City's recent casino struggles, according to Moody's Investors Service.

Low interest rates may be pressuring margins, but they provided a lift to community banks that sell mortgage originations. Bankers are now debating how long the current refi boom will last.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development will revise its auctions of nonperforming mortgages to address concerns that the sales aren't doing enough to help homeowners in communities hurt by foreclosures.

In another escalation of Quicken Loans' ongoing clash with the government, the Department of Justice on Thursday filed a lawsuit alleging shoddy underwriting by the company.

Judging by the help-wanted notice that Loretta Lynch posted last year, the freshly confirmed U.S. Attorney General intends to pick up where her predecessor left off and make lenders pay for their role in the subprime crisis.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is sticking to its schedule and moving quickly to finalize proposed financial requirements for nonbank firms that service Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans.