Private-label

Moody's Corp. said federal officials are planning a lawsuit over its ratings of residential mortgage securities that critics contend were inflated to win business in the years leading up to the 2008 financial crisis.

Independent mortgage bankers are concerned that if Congress votes to privatize the Common Securitization Platform, it could give large banks too much control over the real estate finance market.

Bank of America has ended its agreement with PHH Corp. that saw the Mount Laurel, N.J.-based company perform private-label originations for Merrill Lynch.

Towd Point Mortgage Trust is adding more "dirty" pool assets into its fourth reperforming mortgage securitization of 2016.

JPMorgan opted for more geographic diversity in its third securitization this year of prime fixed-rate residential mortgages predominately located in high-priced urban markets.

So long as government-backed entities are guaranteeing 90% of originations, competition that could result in greater mortgage options for borrowers is being stifled. But a return of private capital to the market, possibly through securitization, could fix that.

The first reboot of S&P 500 Index group weights in almost two decades has arrived, shaking up stock portfolios and conjuring an industry out of real estate investment trusts that will infuse at least one lightweight ETF with sudden riches.

Caliber Home Loans is preparing a second subprime residential mortgage securitization, just months after completing its first U.S. subprime asset-backed deal of the post-crisis era.

Despite headwinds working against the mortgage insurance industry, this business could be the catalyst for bringing private capital back to the mortgage market.

PHH Corp. said Merrill Lynch plans to bring more of its origination activity back in house and that could hurt pretax earnings by $13 million in the second half of the year.

Two Harbors, which last week announced it was getting out of the private-label mortgage securitization business, is marketing one last deal.

Settlements related to court fights over private-label mortgage-backed securities are significantly boosting the bottom lines at a few Federal Home Loan banks.

Two Harbors Investment Corp., one of the few regular sponsors of private-label mortgage securitization post-financial crisis, is pulling out of the market.

The official platform of the Republican Party has softened language calling for the end of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, while continuing to demand reform of the government-sponsored enterprises.

Think the $1.9 billion "house" mortgage securitization that JPMorgan completed in April was big?

The Dec. 31 expiration of the Home Affordable Modification Program will have a limited negative effect on residential mortgage-backed securities from 2008 or earlier, according to Moody's Investors Service.

Fitch Ratings has updated its new loan level due diligence residential mortgage-backed securities grading methodology to include compliance grading related to the TILA-RESPA integrated disclosure rules.

Seneca Mortgage Servicing has chosen Nationstar Mortgage Holdings as the subservicer for its existing mortgage servicing rights portfolio as well as for future acquisitions.

So far, 2016 has brought legal battles, election woes and TRID-related headaches to the mortgage industry, among many other major issues.

Caliber Home Loans is marketing a residential mortgage-backed securitization mainly backed by nonprime loans, called COLT 2016-1 Mortgage Loan Trust.