Mortgages

Purchases of new homes unexpectedly climbed in January to the highest level in more than five years, showing underlying strength in the industry even in the midst of unusually harsh weather.

Purchase applications reached their lowest level since 1995 last week, as the index decreased 4% from the previous week.

In the FDIC's fourth-quarter earnings report, the agency said loan buybacks fell to their lowest level in five years.

The new rules are causing originator sales paralysis because of their complexity.

The fate of a measure that provided key tax relief to distressed homeowners is hanging in the balance as Congress debates a larger package of tax extenders.

A founding executive of the upstart company is leaving his post as executive vice president.

Carrington Mortgage Services appointed Harold Michaud as area manager for Northern California.

The lawsuit claims the bank failed to maintain and market foreclosed homes in minority neighborhoods in Chicago, Memphis and Washington, in violation of the Fair Housing Act.

Jumbo mortgages currently are yielding less than agency loans, and there are other anomalies you can see in the business if you look closely.

Private issuers need certainty to create a new secondary mortgage market, MBA and SIFMA officials say.

Home prices climbed at a slower pace in the year through December, indicating the market is entering a new stage that will help sustain further progress.

JPMorgan Chase said it would eliminate about 8,000 jobs in the consumer and mortgage banking units this year as demand for refinancings declines.

The company plans to eliminate 22 of its 37 mortgage products and programs by the end of the year.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau levied a $83,000 civil money penalty on Monday against Connecticut-based First Alliance Lending, a specialty firm that focuses on providing loss-mitigation financing to distressed borrowers.

By now, every servicer appreciates the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's single-point-of-contact expectations and the importance of using this staffing model to manage distressed borrowers. However, in order to outperform, servicers must go beyond SPOC and develop a “case ownership” perspective that more closely links all the people involved in servicing a borrower’s loan.

It has to do with the visibility and prominence of your company when consumers conduct online searches.

Bitter weather, the qualified mortgage rule's restrictive guidelines and the lingering effects of the foreclosure crisis have put a crimp in homebuying at an inopportune time for lenders.

"We are seeing less interest from institutional buyers" of foreclosed properties, says Fannie chief executive Timothy Mayopoulos.

Prospect Mortgage did everything right to defend itself against overtime and minimum wage claims from salespeople, though some industry attorneys caution the rulings in its favor may have limited applicability.

Lenders should be aware auditors are focusing on 1099 payments due to the concern that the payments could be a vehicle for compensation no longer permissible under the Dodd-Frank Act.