Mortgages

The Justice Department's Clifford White is putting all mortgage servicers on notice that they too will be punished if they flout bankruptcy rules.

Investors punished Nationstar Mortgage, sending shares down more than 10% Wednesday, down $3.15 a share to $27.96 a share, after the nonbank servicer announced a capital raise of roughly $500 million that will dilute existing shareholders.

With mortgage giant Freddie Mac finding increased demand this week in the nascent market for its risk-sharing securities, competitor Fannie Mae said it was taking steps to draw more buyers for its own notes.

Mortgage application volume elevated in the week ending March 20 as interest rates reached lows not seen since the beginning of the year.

MGIC Investment Corp. former Chief Executive Officer Curt Culver, who presided over an 85% stock-price decline during his tenure, received compensation valued at about $8 million for his last full year in the top job.

In a reflection of the recovering housing market, consumer demand for home equity lines of credit is surging, according to the Consumer Banker Association's Home Equity Lending Committee.

Commercial mortgage-backed securities servicers have held on to real-estate owned properties for longer than usual, which could lead to a reversal in the declines in liquidations seen recently, according to a Fitch Ratings study.

There are a lot of consumer, investor and regulatory complaints about how the nonbank servicing firm does business, but Morgan Stanley researchers offer reasons why certain investors and borrowers could benefit from sticking with Ocwen.

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If you thought the subprime mortgage-backed security was an artifact of the past, think again. Nomura Holdings and Angel Oak Capital have a deal that may help revive the part of the market that went bust during the crisis. Their success could encourage more banks to dip their toes back into riskier mortgages.

KeyBank Real Estate Capital has teamed up with Hunt Mortgage Group to create a commercial mortgage servicing group and asset management department.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, announced a vote for Thursday of 11 bills aimed at lessening regulatory burden on banks by changing aspects of the Dodd-Frank Act and associated regulations.

Lyle Gramley, the former chief economist of the Mortgage Bankers Association who prior to that was a Federal Reserve governor who helped battle a recession and inflation of more than 10% during Pres. Ronald Reagan's first term in the 1980s, has died. He was 88.

Purchases of new homes unexpectedly rose in February to a seven-year high as stronger job gains helped bolster industry activity amid severe weather.

Home prices increased less than economists estimated in January as traditional buyers took the place of investors, leading to smaller gains.

Much like in 2014, a multitude of factors, including record snowfall across the country and the West Coast port strike, contributed to a sluggish start to the year economically.

Ocwen Financial Corp. agreed to sell servicing rights on a $25 billion portfolio of home loans and said it's out of compliance with New York Stock Exchange listing standards.

In the wake of confusion about the status of pre-approvals, an expert on compliance seeks to clarify, but exhorts the CFPB to do so, officially, "prior to the effective date of the new rule."

Mortgage professional hiring and new job appointments for the week ending March 20.

Changes to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's consumer complaint system could give lenders lots to gripe about if they don't prepare accordingly and be proactive, mortgage industry consulting firm STRATMOR Group said March 23.