RMBS

Residential Capital Corp./GMAC earned $217 million in the first quarter, but its residential originations plummeted by 53%, as the near-closing of its correspondent division weighed heavily.

The 30- and 15-year fixed mortgage rates eased back to within one basis point of their record lows to 3.88% and 3.12%, respectively, in the week ending April 26 said Freddie Mac.

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) said Wednesday that the central bank will maintain its reinvestments of principal payments from agency MBS and debt holdings into new agency MBS.

Fannie Mae is directing servicers to expedite short sale deals and improve transparency on these reviews.

Price guidance was issued this week for the three-year notes in Leofric 1, which is the debut RMBS from Coventry Building Society.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) is supporting a Senate bill to streamline the Home Affordable Refinancing Program (HARP) relieving lenders of repurchase risk when they refinance underwater GSE borrowers.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) late Tuesday reached a settlement with H&R Block subsidiary Option One Mortgage Corp. (OOMC), over charges that the now-defunct subprime lender misled investors that bought some of the firm’s MBS.

The national delinquency rate continued its downward slide in 2012, falling to just over 7% at March 31, down 6% from the month prior, according to new figures compiled by Lender Processing Services (LPS) for its First Look Mortgage Monitor report.

After coming to grips with the dimensions of two critically important and related mortgage rules, federal regulators have decided that one should be finalized before the other: the qualified mortgage (QM) test.As result, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) will go first and finalize the QM rule, ultimately determining which loans are safe enough for consumers while shielding lenders from litigation provided they adhere to predetermined underwriting standards.

While mortgage rates declined to their lowest levels in the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) survey history for the week ending April 20, refinancing activity did not see a corresponding increase.