Mortgages

Fannie Mae's first-quarter profits were enough for it to rebuild its minimum capital buffer and pay the Treasury Department dividend after being forced to take a draw during the previous fiscal period.

Ocwen Financial Corp. got back in the black during the first quarter after selling New Residential Investment Corp. $110 million in economic rights to mortgage servicing.

In its latest effort to reach first time home buyers, Freddie Mac is launching a new 3% down payment program that casts aside a number of restrictions in its existing low down payment offerings.

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.

The $826.6 million transaction, GPMT 2018-1, represents about two-fifths of the $2.4 billion portfolio of the REIT, which was spun out of Two Harbors Investment last year.

Angel Oak Commercial Lending provide both short- and long-term financing for projects in multifamily, industrial, mixed use, retail, office, self-storage and other sectors.

The legislation would prohibit the CFPB from penalizing institutions that rely in good faith on guidance from the bureau.

The real estate investment trust is issuing $450 million of five-year notes backed by rights to excess servicing strips of Fannie Mae loans.

A class action filed last week alleges that Renovate America and Renew Financial failed to provide consumer protections promised to L.A. County, that this constitutes elder abuse, and the county is complicit.

HELOCs make up just 2.9% of the $281 million pool of collateral; 81.8% of the HELOC borrowers are currently ineligible to make draws; another 18.2% are permanently frozen.

Applications can now be made on the bank's app or website, but closings will still be in person. With this move, BofA joins Quicken Loans, Lenda, SoFi and others offering a mostly digital mortgage. The trend is sure to continue.

Momentum to overhaul the mortgage finance system had been slipping, and with Democrats divided over the Senate's banking relief bill there's virtually no chance more bipartisan deals can be worked out.

The annual progress report on the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac conservatorships reiterated that a new credit score model will likely not be operational until after the implementation of a new Single Security Initiative.

Lenders should not get so desperate chasing volume by originating lower credit non-qualified mortgage products that they are inviting the next regulatory crackdown, said David Stevens, the Mortgage Bankers Association's CEO.

After several years of preparation, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will start issuing a new, common mortgage-backed security starting June 3, 2019, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said Wednesday.

Banks would welcome a proposal to loosen Basel III capital restrictions because it would make holding mortgage servicing rights easier and stem the recent exodus of depositories from the servicing business, executives said.

A new settlement with Massachusetts resolves all outstanding administrative actions against Ocwen Financial Corp. by a group of 30 states, but two states' legal actions against the servicer remain outstanding.

There was a modest decline in hurricane-related delinquent mortgages in February, a sign that there are lingering problems in the affected markets.

A bill to allow captive insurance companies to be reinstated as members of the Federal Home Loan Bank System appears to be dividing the FHLB community.

Issuance of Ginnie Mae securities backed by reverse mortgages rose above $1 billion for the second time in two years, according to the government agency's latest monthly report.