Originations

The first technologies created in response to Fannie Mae’s Loan Quality Initiative are coming to the market, giving lenders the ability to access new services conveniently through loan origination systems.

The average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage during the week ending Oct. 28 rose a bit to 4.23% from 4.21% the previous week as consumer confidence increased slightly, according to Freddie Mac.

After its executives insisted during last week's earnings call that its foreclosure practices were sound, Wells Fargo & Company late Wednesday said it planned to correct and resubmit up to 55,000 improperly filed documents by mid-November.

The current—and somewhat robust—refinancing boom has to end sometime, and already mortgage bankers are asking the obvious: If home purchases don’t pick up, then what?

Residential loan applications rebounded last week with increased demand for both purchases and refinancings, according to figures released by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Title insurance giant Fidelity National Financial, Jacksonville, Fla., earned $83.2 million in the third quarter, a 14% rise from the same period a year ago, citing strong business inflows thanks to rising refinancings.

As the mortgage industry tries to entice private investors back into the space, lenders are looking to technology to provide data verification and analysis of the loans they're originating, according to a panel discussion at the Mortgage Bankers Association convention and expo in Atlanta.

New home sales rose by almost 7% in September to the highest level since June, a sign that the market might be stabilizing.

The Federal Housing Administration said it was responding to market demand when it started modifying its Home Equity Conversion Mortgage products. The result consists of several changes to the standard program, HECM Saver, a new option that requires lower upfront premiums, and new opportunity to use this affordable option as an REO disposition tool.

Well, it’s the end of October. The leaves are falling; the weather has begun to change. This signals an important time of the year for me….planning for what looks to be a good 2011 in the reverse mortgage business.

Mortgage bankers relied on MERS to be responsible for all of the documentation used in the home buying process, and as a result few in the industry looked at the paper work after the fact, said Becky Walzak, president and CEO at RJB Walzak Consulting Inc.

Residential appraisers should command higher fees now that new regulations will require lenders and appraisal management companies to pay them "customary and reasonable" compensation.

Even if the GOP gains a chamber in the upcoming federal elections, chances are the Dodd-Frank legislation will not be changed in any substantive way, according to the top lobbyist for the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Federal Housing Administration Commissioner David Stevens urged mortgage bankers to become more engaged in Obama Administration programs designed to stop the bleeding in the housing market and embrace regulatory and legislative changes to boost consumer confidence.

It's unlikely the government will release its grip on the housing market any time soon, the head of Freddie Mac told residential finance executives and vendors.

WASHINGTON—David Stevens has been a busy man during his first 16 months on the job. Under his lead, the FHA has implemented a whirlwind of reforms, including higher net worth requirements for government-approved lenders, steeper downpayments for borrowers with low FICO scores, and a new mortgage insurance premium structure that was approved by Congress. And he’s not done yet.

Mortgage originations could fall dramatically next year by one-third, even as purchase-money lending increases, the Mortgage Bankers Association said at its annual convention in Atlanta.

Some lenders are taking reforms in the Federal Housing Administration credit policies too far, shutting the door on otherwise good candidates for home ownership, FHA Commissioner David Stevens said in Atlanta at the Mortgage Bankers Association's annual convention.

Some large banks sold fewer mortgages to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during the third quarter, using them to manage interest rate risk and to slow the contraction of loans.

When times are tough, consumers, increasingly, are paying their credit card bills first and worrying about the mortgage later.