Paul Muolo

C-BASS founders Bruce Williams and Saul Sanders are talking to mortgage banker New Penn Financial, Plymouth Meeting, Pa., about buying the company, according to three sources familiar with the deal.

Redwood Trust, which has completed two jumbo mortgage securitizations in the last 10 months, is reviewing loans for purchase daily, Chief Operating Officer Brett D. Nicholas said in an interview.

As mortgage bankers ponder regulatory plans to radically restructure servicing fees, the dollar volume of their portfolios continued on a downward trajectory in the fourth quarter, according to exclusive survey figures compiled by National Mortgage News.

But this time around, few expect that any of the top 10 players in the industry — the megabanks included — will be the acquirers. Instead, M&A advisers are seeing increased interest from private-equity and joint-venture firms.

Wells Fargo & Co., which has emerged as a big seller of delinquent mortgages, is offering roughly $350 million of whole loans, some of which are nonperforming, according to investment banking sources.

The national residential delinquency rate fell by 10% in the fourth quarter, to 8.22%, the lowest reading in two years, according to data released Thursday morning by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform issued a subpoena asking Bank of America to hand over all documents related to Countrywide's 'Friends of Angelo' program.

Redwood Trust on Tuesday filed notice with the Securities and Exchange Commission, signaling its intention to sell a $292 million mortgage-backed security backed by jumbo mortgages.

Kondaur Capital Corp., a player in the nonperforming loan market, has slashed its staff by 39%, saying it is having a hard time finding enough available product to purchase.

Annaly Capital Management, a real estate investment trust that invests in mortgages, on Tuesday priced a $1.3 billion offering of stock, its second trip to the equity well within two months.

HSBC Holdings PLC is reviewing a first round of bids taken on its $60 billion residential servicing portfolio, but has yet to make a decision on the sale, according to industry advisers familiar with the matter.

Thanks to rising interest rates the value of mortgage servicing rights has increased roughly 15% since the end of the third quarter, according to Interactive Mortgage Advisors.

The warehouse lending veteran Paul Best has joined People's United Bank in Bridgeport, Conn., as a senior vice president in its commercial division.

Citigroup Inc. sold a $517 million portfolio of nonperforming mortgages in late January, according to market sources.

Fannie Mae purchased $87.6 billion of mortgages from its seller/servicers in December, its best purchase month of the year and yet another sign that loan production remained strong in the fourth quarter.

The nation's five largest funders of home mortgages — four of which fall into the megabank category — had a blowout fourth quarter in terms of residential originations, posting gains of 35% or better, with one glaring exception: Bank of America.

Impac Mortgage Holdings, a nonbank once synonymous with losing money and alternative-A lending, has big plans. Not only does it aim to fund $1.2 billion in loans this year, it expects 80% of that to come from loan brokers.

Total Mortgage Services LLC, a fast-growing nonbank lender in Connecticut, announced Tuesday that it has hired former Bank of America Corp. vice president Lisa Schreiber to head its wholesale division.

MetLife Bank last week hired mortgage veteran Jess Lederman to head its fledgling correspondent lending division, the last piece in the company's plan to become a top five player in the industry.

Now that residential application volumes are on the wane — thanks to rising mortgage rates — the obvious question becomes the most wrenching one: When will mortgage bankers begin cutting heads and which firms will bite the dust?