Underwriting

Arch Mortgage Insurance introduced a new pricing program to better aligns a policy's risk with the amount of the premium. But analysts have expressed concerns about pricing competition.

The recovery in the housing market will slow dramatically over the next 10 months, according to Weiss Analytics.

American Mortgage Consultants has bought JCIII & Associates, in a combination of providers of mortgage due diligence and consulting.

The Connecticut Housing Finance Authority issued more than $400 million of bonds in 2015 to finance mortgages at below-market interest rates for low- to moderate-income first-time homebuyers, according to authority officials.

Lenders continued to ease loan standards across all types of mortgage products in the fourth quarter and they expect the trend to continue, according to Fannie Mae.

KeyCorp will keep and expand First Niagara Financial Group's Buffalo, N.Y.-based mortgage operations to spur along its return to being a player in residential lending.

There could be more willingness among lenders to roll back self-imposed requirements for agency loans in 2016, but secondary-market conditions will be mixed for mortgage sellers while rates and costs are poised to rise.

Real estate finance services provider Chronos Solutions in Frisco, Texas, has acquired San Diego-based mortgage technology company Cogent Road.

Credit scores on closed loans have declined for six consecutive months, according to the latest Ellie Mae Origination Insight report.

Default rates on various types of consumer loans improved in November, according to Standard & Poor's and Experian.

Fannie Mae is offering yet another carrot to lenders that have lobbied extensively for relief from loan repurchases.

The new mortgage disclosures are not expected to have a large impact on origination volume, but could have a sizable effect on lenders' processes.

Securitizations that involve commercial mortgages are increasingly dropping loans from their pools before the final transactions close, according to Fitch Ratings.

Mortgage applications for new homes declined in November, although not as sharp a drop as is typical for this time of year, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Mortgage lenders said their per-loan profits declined 19% in the third quarter compared with the previous quarter, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The consumer lending market, including mortgages, will fully recover from the financial crisis by the end of 2016, according to a forecast by TransUnion.

Loan limits for the Federal Housing Administration mortgage insurance program in 2016 will rise in 188 counties across the nation where home prices increased.

High loan-to-value ratio lending is gaining ground, spurred by the reintroduction 12 months ago of GSE-backed products that only require a 3% down payment, according to Black Knight Financial Services.

Two independent mortgage banks agreed to settlements in the past week with the Justice Department for failing to meet Federal Housing Administration guidelines. The cases are a warning to nonbank lenders that they need to beef up self-reporting of deficiencies, and they remind large banks about the legal risks associated with FHA lending.

Anticipation of rising interest rates has stirred more talk among mortgage lenders about the need to originate loans to borrowers with low credit scores.