Risk

As the mortgage industry moves farther past the housing crisis, access to credit remains tight, especially for first-time homebuyers.

If Freddie Mac's credit-risk transfer activities continue to grow, mortgage lenders could eventually see a reduction in the guarantee fees they pay to the government-sponsored enterprise, according to CEO Donald Layton.

There is now less fraud risk associated with adjustable-rate mortgage applications and this will offset some of the higher hazard associated with a purchase market.

Freddie Mac and Arch Capital are testing a new form of risk-sharing deal to boost investor appetite for low down payment mortgages. But the pilot is raising concerns about "charter creep" because it dictates private mortgage insurance decisions typically made by lenders.

It is important for lenders to understand in what locations and property types their application fraud risk rests as the market share of purchase loans rises.

Blue Lion Capital, which is upset with the Seattle company's growth strategy, also wants to replace two of the company's directors.

Freddie Mac posted a fourth-quarter net loss of $3.3 billion and will request $312 million from the Treasury after recent tax reform legislation forced it to write down the value of deferred tax assets.

Servicers that handle loans in the government's Making Home Affordable program could face more enforcement at the urging of the Special Investigator General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Compliance is a significant cost center for mortgage lenders. But with bulk rates, technology and better process management, some lenders have found new ways to reduce the burden.

Financial firms have mostly shrugged off the government's budget woes, but Washington's gridlock might pose a bigger risk than they think.

Updated Fannie Mae requirements clarify that lenders need to conduct an independent internal audit, something that might require additional investment by nonbanks to set up.

Situs agreed Friday to buy mortgage servicing rights valuation and brokerage firm MountainView Financial Solutions in a deal set to close this month.

A group of reinsurers has committed to provide up to $650 million of coverage for credit risk on some $21 billion of 30-year, fixed-rate loans that the government-sponsored agency will acquire over the next two years.

Fannie Mae's serious delinquency rate climbed to a high not seen since March 2017, but remained lower than it was 12 months prior.

After surging earlier in the year, the number of mortgage loan application defects remained flat in November, a positive sign when it comes to fraud incidents going forward.

From consolidation to tech innovation, here's a look at some of the top challenges and trends that mortgage executives from lenders, servicers and vendors are focused on for 2018.

Underwriting purchase loans is inherently more precarious for mortgage lenders and that contributed to the year-over-year increase in risk in new originations during the third quarter, CoreLogic said.

The House Financial Services Committee passed 13 bills (and scrapped a vote on one) Wednesday, including one that would stop Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from being released by the government and another hailed as helping the underbanked in rural areas.

Cutting payments helps stave off default, but principal reduction on underwater loans and lower consumer debt levels are less effective, according to JPMorgan Chase Institute's new study of post-crisis modifications.

While the nationwide run-up in mortgage loan application defects appears to have slowed, instances of fraud remain on the rise in Texas and Florida.