Paul Muolo

Mortgage originators enjoyed a decent second quarter, with loan production rising a respectable 7% from the first quarter, but they are worried about what will happen when refinancings begin to wane.

Jason Gillespie, a senior vice president in the warehouse lending division of Southwest Securities FSB of Dallas, has become the second senior official to leave the unit within the past three weeks.

A report from the Department of Housing and Urban Development's inspector general says deficiencies in some of Webster Bank's Federal Housing Administration underwriting practices could cost the FHA upward of $500,000 on six loans.

Redwood Trust Inc. of Mill Valley, Calif., will likely come to market with a $300 million jumbo mortgage-backed security in the fourth quarter.

Mortgage customers continued to pay down their residential loans in the second quarter, a trend that spells trouble for servicing firms dependent on fee income.

David Frase, executive vice president in charge of warehouse lending at the thrift Southwest Securities has left the company, industry officials confirmed.

Walter Investment Management Corp. in Tampa has agreed to buy Marix Servicing of Arizona for what the companies called a "nominal" sum, according to a new public filing.

Though origination profit margins remain strong, the nation's largest servicers posted weak gains on their housing balances in the second quarter, according to survey figures compiled by National Mortgage News in its Quarterly Data Report.

MetLife Inc.'s home loan unit has hired two former executives from Sovereign Bank to manage its new warehouse lending division.

Jess Lederman, who a few months ago left Kinecta Federal Credit Union, is now heading up Great Western, a mortgage affiliate of Frontier Bank in Park City, Utah.

There's a growing school of thought that the "little guy" has weathered the repurchase storm just fine.

BB&T Corp., which traditionally has kept a tight lock on its warehouse lending program, disclosed that it had $1.5 billion in commitments at June 30 with about half of that in the form of outstanding loans.

Lewis Ranieri — the co-inventor of the mortgage-backed security — and bond market maven Bill Gross are among a group of 12 speakers scheduled to testify Tuesday at a Treasury forum on the future of the housing finance system, a discussion that will touch on what to do about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Navy Federal Credit Union, the largest credit union player in mortgages, said it funded $944 million of single-family loans in the second quarter, a 56% decline from the year earlier.

NexBank of Dallas has launched a mortgage warehouse lending division, offering lines of credit of up to $10 million to nondepositories.

PHH Corp., which controls the nation's seventh-largest residential lender, earned $28 million in the second quarter, almost double its profit the year earlier.

John Robbins, who five years ago sold his nonbank mortgage company to Wachovia Corp. at a nice profit, is trying to re-enter the industry, according to people familiar with his plans.

Maverick Funding Corp. in Parsippany, N.J., has hired counsel and expects to give a complete response to Connecticut regulators on Thursday concerning a report that it did not disclose litigation against its founders — as required — when it filed for a lending application in the state.

Some top-flight loan officers who fled nonbank mortgage lenders for megabanks, seeking job security and a future, are returning to the nonbanks because the big boys take too long to close loans.

Kondaur Capital Corp., an active investor in distressed and underperforming mortgages, is marketing a $79 million mortgage-backed security that is collateralized by $263 million of nonperforming loans.