Mortgages

PHH Corp. has been ordered to pay $109 million over allegations that it illegally accepted kickbacks on reinsurance premium payments after Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray partially overruled a decision previously made by an administrative law judge.

Mortgage credit availability rose less than 1% in May, according to data released Thursday by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Freddie Mac's weekly survey of the primary mortgage market found average interest rates for conforming loan products to be fairly stable.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a consumer advisory on Thursday warning older consumers about misleading advertisements promoting reverse mortgages.

RPM Mortgage and its chief executive are facing $20 million in fines on allegations that the company violated the loan originator compensation law enforced by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Ratings agency Fitch took a cautious approach to the residential mortgage-backed securities market in its latest report on the sector.

The share of high loan-to-value ratio purchase loans is at a two-year high, according to RealtyTrac's 2015 Down Payment Report for the first quarter, released Thursday.

Real estate executives have turned more bullish on the real estate market as it continues to attract the interest of foreign investors, a new study from law firm Akerman LLP found.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. won a round in a long- running dispute with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., avoiding some of the liabilities tied to its 2008 takeover of Washington Mutual Inc.'s banking operations.

In the struggle between operational compliance and cost control, advanced analytics and technology can help lenders find an efficient middle ground.

The CFPB gave little ground in its pledge Wednesday to be "sensitive" to lenders that make a "good-faith effort" to comply with new mortgage disclosure rules that go into effect in August. The agency's statements fell short of a formal grace period that the industry and lawmakers had been demanding.

The number of delinquent loans backing commercial mortgage-backed securities dropped significantly in May, according to a report by Trepp.

Signs of increased underwriting discipline dissolved in the first quarter, creating a challenge for U.S. CMBS investors, according to Fitch Ratings.

Bank of America scored a legal victory this week for all holders of second liens.

While demand for mortgages continues to slide up and down, profits for independent mortgage bankers are up.

Thorofare Capital in Los Angeles has agreed to originate commercial real estate bridge loans on behalf of the money manager DoubleLine Capital.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a blog post Wednesday designed to mollify industry and congressional concerns that lenders will not be ready to implement new disclosure forms by an Aug. 1 deadline.

A global bond-market slump pushed yields on benchmark U.S. mortgage securities to the highest level in more than seven months, signaling potential pressure on the American housing market amid its peak selling season.

Buyers of the unrated B tranche, which transfers the first 100 basis points of losses when homeowners default, will be paid a spread of 795 basis points over one-month Libor.

Weekly demand for mortgage loans continues its trend of being consistently inconsistent.