Compliance

Amerisave Mortgage Corp. and its owner have been ordered to pay more than $20 million for allegedly overcharging borrowers and trapping them in higher interest rates than those advertised.

Even though refinance loans account for the majority of mortgage applications, the refi boom has long been over, and depressed origination volume will keep it that way for some time.

Ocwen Financial Corp., the largest nonbank mortgage servicer, said investors shouldn't rely on its financial statements for 2013 and the first quarter of this year as the firm’s auditor reviews accounting controls.

Hawaii plans to sell $150 million in taxable bonds in November to fund a program to provide low-interest loans targeting residents with poor credit or low income who want to install energy savings devices like solar panels on their homes.

Fitch Ratings may decline to rate or limit the maximum rating on re-performing securitizations if their representations and warranties, rep providers, documentation, due diligence reviews and structures aren't up to snuff.

The overall message – that mini-correspondents were intended as transitions, not permanent business models – means that the loan channel would be examined for consistency with the intended purpose.

MGIC Investment Corp. reported its insurance subsidiaries wrote $3.6 billion in new primary mortgage insurance in July, up 12.5% from June, continuing its second-quarter trend.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are relying more and more on their income from loan guarantee fees just at a time when their regulator is considering a proposal to reduce those fees.

Morgan Stanley is returning to the jumbo residential mortgage-backed securities market for the first-time since the housing crisis. The originator is well-known, but the loans are unusual and the geographic concentration is high.

Fair Isaac's new credit scoring model includes enhancements to evaluate borrowers with limited credit histories and quantify the risk associated with different types of debt.

U.S. non-governmental residential mortgage-backed securities infrastructure may help Canadian players diversify their funding sources. The U.S. might win more key investors back if it had Canada's credit strengths.

Banks and other lenders appear to be waiting on a regulatory signal from the Federal Housing Finance Agency before approving loans for borrowers with less than stellar credit profiles.

Though some borrowers will suffer from payment shock when home equity lines reach their end-of-draw-period after 10 years, the risks are isolated. Fewer than 20% of home equity lines have an elevated risk of default in the next few years, TransUnion found.

As warehouse providers try to build market share with new types of credit lines, allowing mortgage bankers to fund non-QM loans is the logical next step to staying competitive.

The mortgage-bond industry is taking steps toward creating standards meant to help kick-start sales as the government seeks to wean the housing market from its support.

Citigroup Inc.'s $285 million mortgage-securities pact with the Securities and Exchange Commission was approved by a judge whose earlier rejection of the accord was assailed by a federal appeals court.

Lenders need to take the initiative to analyze their Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data before the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau does.

The senior officer loan survey, which is released by the Fed every three months, asked both large U.S. banks and foreign banks about the effect the new ability-to-pay and qualified mortgage rules were having on approval rates for various types of home purchase loans.

Bond investors are demanding to be paid more to potentially bear losses on mortgages guaranteed by Freddie Mac as risk-sharing notes that were sold earlier by the firm and competitor Fannie Mae slump.

While the national foreclosure inventory has declined for 26 consecutive months to 951,000 mortgages, there remains a significant imbalance between the volume of loans in foreclosure in judicial and nonjudicial foreclosure states.