Kate Berry

Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Fargo got credit for providing $15.4 billion relief to roughly 420,000 underwater borrowers last year, according to the settlement monitor.

The Federal Housing Administration has joined Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in calling for mortgage lenders to temporarily postpone mortgage payments for furloughed government employees and contractors who have been affected by the shutdown.

Almost everyone has an opinion about how to reform Fannie and Freddie, but some housing experts say the status quo isn't so bad.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is auctioning off roughly $5 billion of nonperforming Federal Housing Administration loans in what is believed to be one of the largest-ever sales of distressed residential real estate.

Consumer delinquency rates rose slightly in the second quarter but remain at historic lows, according to the American Bankers Association.

Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase and Citi insist that the Federal Housing Administration will compensate them for all foreclosure losses. But if the banks’ underwriting proves shoddy, they could be on the hook for billions of dollars.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development on Monday issued its own proposed rule defining what constitutes a "qualified mortgage," that has two exceptions to the existing QM rule finalized earlier this year by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

FHA Commissioner Carol Galante says mandatory accounting rules forced the agency to ask for additional funds and don't reflect significant improvements in its mortgage portfolio this year.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...Hard Ball: Don't be fooled into thinking that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder will end up strong-arming JPMorgan Chase's CEO Jamie Dimon. While Dimon has largely agreed to provide $4 billion in "soft dollar" relief for borrowers, the DOJ wants more than the proposed $7 billion in penalties. But wait. Dimon also wants California prosecutors to drop a criminal investigation into the bank's mortgage practices, a request that Justice has not yet agreed to, says the NYT's Dealbook. The WSJ says the biggest sticking point is whether JPMorgan will admit wrongdoing, which Dimon has resisted. Only the Washington Post mentions that the deal still represents a sliver of the damage wrought by the bank for selling mortgage securities "that it allegedly knew were worthless."

The FHA is expected to announce at the end of this month that it will need a bailout for the first time in its 79-year history.

A fair-housing group is trying to crank up the pressure on Bank of America to settle claims that the bank discriminated against minorities by failing to maintain foreclosed properties.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac failed to pursue and collect deficiencies from foreclosed borrowers who had the ability to repay, according to an inspector general's report released Tuesday.

Wingspan Portfolio Advisors, a mortgage service provider, has agreed to take over the lease on a customer service operation in Monroe, La., from JPMorgan Chase (JPM) with the help of state subsidies.

The Central Bank's surprise decision to continue buying mortgage bonds may not spark another refinancing boom, but it could spur more home purchases.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are about to get tougher on banks and other lenders that cut corners when originating mortgages and try to sell them to the government-sponsored enterprises.

Three years after constructing a database aimed at standardizing the home appraisal process, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are still finding serious discrepancies in many appraisals submitted by mortgage lenders.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is urging banks to strengthen their oversight of the home appraisal process and warning them to keep an eye out for a sudden spike in delinquencies on home-equity loans.

Some mortgage experts are criticizing a recent rule change by the Federal Housing Administration that would allow borrowers who lost their homes to foreclosure or a short sale to qualify for a new mortgage in as little as a year.

Wells Fargo, the nation's largest mortgage lender, is exploring the sale of some servicing rights because the market is flush with potential buyers and it sees little opportunity to cross-sell many servicing clients.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...Fed Staff Violates Rules: It's not just the banks, folks, it's also the regulators. The Federal Reserve's inspector general says the Fed violated its own rules when a staff member inadvertently emailed minutes from a March policy meeting a day early. Oops. The email went to 150 people including some of the biggest banks and investment firms on Wall Street plus congressional staffers. The IG says the Fed failed to provide sufficient training to employees handling confidential information. Wall Street Journal, New York Times