Underwriting

Now that it has completed the purchase of its rival private mortgage insurer United Guaranty from AIG, Arch Capital Group plans to trim the sales force while avoiding service disruptions.

Walter Investment Management Corp. has agreed to sell Green Tree Insurance Agency to a wholly owned subsidiary of insurance company Assurant.

F&M Bank Corp. in Timberville, Va., has acquired Valley Southern Title in Harrisonburg, Va.

Residential loan application activity continued its post-election slump, declining for the sixth time in the eight weeks, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

In an enforcement action totaling more than $23 million in fines and restitution, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau found that TransUnion and Equifax — two of the largest consumer credit reporting agencies — had misled consumers on the value of the data they marketed.

This was a year of shocks and surprises, including a multimillion-dollar verdict after one lender sued another, regulations putting a lender out of business, Brexit driving rates down and Donald Trump's election pushing them back up. Here are 10 events and trends from 2016 that changed the industry.

The Rural Housing Service is expanding its manufactured housing loan guarantee program to include more refinancings of used or existing manufactured homes.

Mortgage rates moved higher, closing the year with nine consecutive weeks of increases, according to Freddie Mac.

The Department of Justice has agreed to a settlement with a pair of Cincinnati banks accused of redlining African-American neighborhoods in four cities in Ohio and Indiana.

Fannie Mae's Day 1 Certainty initiative and automated verification tools at Freddie Mac are set to improve mortgage loan application defect and misrepresentation risk in 2017, according to a report from First American Financial Corp.

Contracts to purchase previously owned homes unexpectedly decreased in November on a sudden pickup in mortgage rates and limited inventory, according to figures released Wednesday by the National Association of Realtors.

Rising interest rates typically squelch demand for refinancing, leaving lenders to compete for homebuyers' business. But plain-vanilla purchase loans aren't the only saleable products in this rising-rate environment. Here are five other products likely to find demand.

A consumer's ability to afford to purchase a home during the fourth quarter was at its lowest level in eight years due to rapid price appreciation, moderate wage growth and the post-election increase in interest rates.

Mortgage rates continued their climb, with the 30-year reaching its highest level since April 2014, after the Federal Reserve increased its benchmark lending rate.

Refinance activity in November was even compared with the prior month, though the data suggested that the market is prepping for higher rates to cut into this segment, according to Ellie Mae.

Sales of previously owned U.S. homes unexpectedly increased in November to the strongest level since early 2007, ahead of a jump in borrowing costs, National Association of Realtors data showed.

Loans originated in the third quarter were among the highest in credit quality since 2000, according to CoreLogic.

While depository mortgage lenders should exercise some caution before welcoming trended data and alternative credit scoring into their process, they must become inclusive or face losing market share to newer industry players like SoFi.

A regulatory 2017 scorecard for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac calls on the firms to transfer a significant portion of credit risk to third-party private investors on at least 90% of unpaid principal balance of newly acquired single-family mortgages.

BOK Financial will take a roughly $17 million earnings hit due to a change in the fair value of its mortgage servicing rights and a corresponding hedge.