Mortgages

The biggest issue facing the mortgage business this year is regulation. Nobody likes it. Most people would see some as inevitable. What would be too much?

Wells Fargo is not only the country's largest originator of home loans. It's also the largest servicer of commercial and multi-family mortgages.

Wholesale lending is back! OK, not exactly. Citigroup announced its exit from the channel this past week and some trade journals - not knowing their stuff - seemed to think it was the biggest story since the Hindenburg disaster. Wholesale only accounted for 9% of Citi's production.

Federal banking agencies seem to be making little progress in promulgating regulations that will set the ground rules for a revival of the private label MBS market.

Business process outsourcing and workflow platforms originally tended to be separate, but it has begun to make more sense to package them together, according to Narayan Bharadwaj, business head for Wipro Gallagher Solutions.

Barbara Desoer, the president of Bank of America's home loans division who was once considered a possible successor to former Chief Executive Ken Lewis, will retire at the end of February, B of A said Friday.

Another state attorney general has filed a lawsuit against Merscorp, this time in New York, where Eric Schneiderman took aim at the thousands of MERS “certifying officers” employed by mortgage servicers whom he alleges filed defective and inaccurate foreclosure documents that deceived and mislead borrowers and courts.

A New York housing counselor on Thursday was sentenced to six years in prison for bilking 136 mortgage customers who sought loan modifications.

Less than 5% of originations backed by the Rural Housing Service last year were refinancings, but the agency is trying to change all that with a new streamline refi pilot program, unveiled this week by the White House.

Genworth Financial posted earnings of $107 million in the fourth quarter - compared to a $161 million loss a year ago - but its mortgage insurance division continued to struggle.

It's good news for the nation (and a certain president in particular) that the U.S. economy added 243,000 jobs in January. (Of course, when the numbers get revised next month...) And I'm sure the president's GOP revivals have already tried to deflate the job gains, noting that the decline in unemployment to 8.3% is tied to so many people leaving the workforce.

The housing market is going through changes that challenge middle-market companies including mortgage servicers. It has been proven in past economic downturns that companies that invest heavily in the right kinds of marketing and strategic planning are the ones that will capitalize the most on the situation and likely thrive when the market turns around.

The mortgage industry needs to push back-hard. For the better part of the last four years, politicians have been pounding on banks and lenders as the source of all that ails our economy. The most recent example was the State of the Union address, where still more regulation, oversight and government involvement with lending practices were promised.

Mortgage companies have added at least 3,000 full-time employees to their payrolls since September -- to keep up with refinancings -- but held off on hiring in December, according to new government figures released Friday morning.

Credit Suisse analysts said in a press conference that the rampant use of principal forgiveness is a dangerous path because it promotes moral hazard. The true key to avoid moral hazard as well as what drives the re-default rate is not the type of modification but the level of payment reduction to the borrower’s mortgage.

Interactive Mortgage Advisors, Denver, is selling a $589 million portfolio of residential servicing rights backed by Fannie Mae and GNMA mortgages.

Provident Financial Holdings Inc., Riverside, Calif., has hired 40 people from MetLife Home Loans to run three new retail mortgage loan production offices in Northern California.

Employment concerns, tight underwriting and the over-supply of homes on the market are still outweighing what have been great gains in affordability, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said Thursday.

Taking a trip? Most prudent travelers create some sort of plan before venturing on any type of journey. Where to begin the trip, what items to pack and what markers you'll encounter to aid in getting to your destination are just a few of the details to be addressed.

The Obama administration is working toward producing a plan to wind down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner.