Mortgages

In case you missed the story on the National Mortgage News website, here's a headline for you: Some firms have the ability to make $10,000 per loan on HARP 2.0 loans. A nice chunk of that profit estimate is tied to secondary market pricing.

Foreclosure law firm Steven J. Baum P.C. and Pillar Processing LLC have agreed to a $4 million settlement with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman for conducting improper legal filings against distressed homeowners.

Feeling hungry for news about the servicing market? Then join me for a free breakfast at the Mortgage Servicing Conference!

One of the most misunderstood and misapplied areas concerning LO compensation involves the application of varying compensation related to the source of the business. In its simplest form, the concept is that a company should be able to pay a loan officer more for a self-originated deal than it pays a loan officer for developing a loan through a lead purchased by the company.

Bank of America said it will offer a small number of customers facing foreclosure the option to remain in their homes and rent the property instead.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau late this week unveiled an interactive database with answers to consumers' frequently asked questions about financial products.

With profit margins on HARP 2.0 refinancings sky high, Wells Fargo & Co., is putting caps on the loan-to-value ratio it will accept from third-party lenders, National Mortgage News has learned.

I am not ashamed to say it; I still read Blondie every day in my local newspaper. And a little over a week ago I came across a strip which drives home the point that empty phrases do not motivate people.

Stonegate Mortgage, a fast-growing nonbank lender based in Indianapolis, has received a $25 million investment form private equity fund, Long Ridge Equity Partners, and plans to use the money to grow both its servicing portfolio and third-party lending channels.

Loan origination systems have in many cases largely been striving to keep up with inordinate demands for functionality during a time when resources are scarce by finding partners to help them extend their abilities.

Wells Fargo & Co. - the nation's largest buyer of closed loans outside of the GSEs - has thrown down the gauntlet on the correspondent market, creating an "exclusionary list" of 88 firms that it will no longer buy loans from. How are lenders reacting so far? With a mixture of fear of being on the list and an indifferent "so what?"

Sequoia Mortgage Trust has in the works another private label securitization backed by recently originated jumbo loans, a type of transaction that continues to be rare in the post-downturn market.

In my opinion there is a significant disconnect in the jumbo mortgage between the primary market and the secondary market. What is fascinating is very little discussion or attention is being focused on this issue, at least from the perspective of what consumers want.

Mortgage bankers issued $28 billion of Government National Mortgage Association MBS in February, down 7% from the prior month, according to new figures released Thursday.

While the multifamily market might be the hot commercial real estate sector right now, Fitch Ratings, New York, sees a number of clouds on the horizon, including a loosening of lender underwriting standards and the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Home prices fell 3.2% during the second-half of last year, but as spring approaches values are bottoming out, according to a new report from Bank of America/Merrill Lynch Global Research.

Executives at Reverse Mortgage Solutions, Spring, Texas, said the company is planning to move into the forward mortgage business. Currently, besides reverse mortgage lending and servicing, it is active in special servicing, default claims administration, real estate owned asset management and REO leasing.

Old Republic International Corp., Chicago, is planning to merge its private mortgage insurance business with another unit that is also in run-off, the consumer credit indemnity division and split them off from the parent company. The combination will operate under the name Republic Financial Indemnity Group Inc.

The average weekly rate for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage in Freddie Mac's survey rose above 4% for the first time since October of last year.

The nation's megabanks -- Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America -- are cleaning up on the HARP 2.0 program, earning massive profits on the origination of these high LTV refinancings, according to a new report from Amherst Securities Group.