Finance

The holiday-shortened first week of July and third quarter had its own brand of fireworks with more records set on various MBS benchmarks as central bank easing actions in the European Union and China, along with weak economic news, kept the bid on risk aversion.

Three California local governments may use their eminent domain powers to seize mortgages and restructure them to help distressed borrowers stay in their homes — much to the dismay of investors who hold the mortgages.

Today the European Central Bank's (ECB) governing council announced how the mandatory provision of loan-by-loan ABS data will be introduced into the securitization single loan-level data repository known as the European DataWarehouse.

Reading “The Lost Bank: The Story of Washington Mutual — The Biggest Bank Failure in American History,” journalist Kirsten Grind's in-depth investigation into the demise of Washington Mutual, was an emotional experience for me as a former "WaMulian" and a named character in the book. I knew that Kirsten had really done her homework based on how many times she called me with questions as she relentlessly pursued the story, but I never imagined how much truly stunning information she would dig up. I laughed, I cried (at least twice), and I gasped out loud as I read a story I thought I knew so well. Who knew a book about a bank could be such a gripping read? Who knew there was so much more to tell?

Countrywide's VIP program not only benefited numerous members of Congress, but also assisted a handful of Capitol Hill staffers and Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Alphonso Jackson as the mortgage lender built a large web of political influence prior to the financial crisis, according to a congressional report released Thursday.

Despite first-half CLO volume that bested 2011’s total and put issuance well beyond the midway point of even optimistic projections for this year, CLO market participants remain somewhat cautious about how many more deals the market can absorb in the second half.

Barclays Capital analysts expressed concern about the "slowdown in the current-to-delinquent roll rate improvement" in a report released yesterday.

WASHINGTON — In an effort to squeeze out profits in a low-interest rate environment, banks are under increasing pressure to lower underwriting standards, offer new, potentially dangerous products and ignore operational risk, a federal banking regulator warned Thursday.

The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed a lower court's decision that a patent lawsuit brought by CollegeNET against a unit of CoreLogic (CLGX) could not go forward.

Over the past 18 months, KB Home experienced a “great deal of disruption” as Bank of America (BofA) and MetLife curtained their lending mortgage activities, according to the builder’s president and chief executive.

State lawmakers approved new mortgage protections for California homeowners that prevent credit unions and banks from foreclosing on a mortgage holder who has applied for a modification.

Representatives from the securitization industry and from the International Organization of Securities Commissions’ (IOSCO) task force on unregulated markets and products discussed the recently published Consultation Report on Global Developments in Securitization Regulation during a roundtable discussion hosted by the IOSCO. The July 2 meeting was at IOSCO’s headquarters in Madrid, Spain.

Delinquency rates on home equity lines of credit (HELOC) edged up in the first quarter compared to the quarter prior, according to a new report by the American Bankers Association (ABA) on Tuesday.

Similar to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) report earlier this morning, Freddie Mac stated that new lows were set on 30- and 15-year fixed mortgage rates as well as one-year ARM rates for the week ending July 5.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported mortgage applications fell 6.7% in the week ending June 28 due to a decline in refinancing activity. The Refinance Index declined around 8% to 4543 with the share of refinances as a percent of total applications down to 78% from 79% and 81% in the prior two weeks, respectively.

Ally Bank is telling clients that it is exiting the warehouse lending business but it will give them time to secure new lines of credit from other lenders.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency said today that the winning bidders have been selected in Fannie Mae’s first bulk sale offering through the REO-to-rental pilot initiative.

Lender Processing Services will acquire mortgage origination technology developer LendingSpace in a deal expected to close later this month.

U.S. credit card delinquencies reflect the significant improvement of the card sector over the last two years, according to Fitch Ratings.

The crisis in mortgage lending and the anger that followed the robo-signing scandal has become a crisis of paper. There are lots of new laws and government guidance that all say some version of the same thing—mortgage lenders have to be wary of how their third-party service providers are following rules designed to protect consumers, or the lender may find itself in noncompliance.