Servicing

The bank agreed to modify loans to struggling U.S. borrowers as part of a 2017 settlement. Instead, it’s receiving credit for financing new mortgages that likely would have been made anyway.

The moves are part of an ongoing effort by the Seattle bank to largely exit mortgage lending.

Freddie Mac exchanged existing bonds from its portfolio for mirror certificates for the first time, completing a key test that is central to the creation of a uniform mortgage-backed security.

In a unanimous ruling, the court placed new limits on the ability of consumers to sue law firms that handle foreclosures on behalf of mortgage servicers.

SIFMA approval could bring new competitors and housing finance reform; number of applications rose but amount borrowed still lags other firms.

The company disclosed that it paid $146 million for servicing rights associated with $13 billion in mortgages.

The funds the bank promised to spend on consumer relief will instead be used to make new home loans, according to a report by the monitor of its 2017 settlement with the U.S. Justice Department.

HomeStreet Bank will attempt to sell its stand-alone mortgage business and portfolio of servicing rights, a move that comes amid growing pressure from an activist investor to exit home lending and concerns about declining demand and regulatory challenges.

SunTrust’s merger with BB&T is the largest bank deal since the financial crisis, and mortgages will play a critical role in the execution of this transaction.

The deal would be the biggest bank merger in more than a decade; banks would need to show how many days they could last with just cash on hand.

As required by the Dodd-Frank Act, the bureau released long-awaited "look-back" reviews to assess the impact of mortgage underwriting and servicing rules on the industry and the credit markets.

The agency wants mortgage servicers to extend special forbearance plans to those affected by the partial government shutdown and evaluate borrowers for loss-mitigation options.

As the government shutdown enters its third week, mortgage servicers are activating the response plans they normally use during hurricanes and wildfires to assist federal workers who may have trouble paying their mortgages.

Rushing to copy the Amazon experience, banks and fintechs are focused on simplifying financial services online. A Georgia Tech researcher says that approach is risky.

An agency report said servicing portfolios have shrunk by nearly half in 10 years as much of the mortgage market has shifted to nonbanks.

Moelis submits a revised Fannie/Freddie blueprint; FASB considering a plan to have banks break out charge-offs and recoveries on year-by-year basis; Wells Fargo layoffs begin with 1,000 jobs in mortgage and tech; and more from this week's most-read stories.

FDIC Chairman Jelena McWilliams questioned whether regulators and banks are fully capturing the emerging risks of a new shadow banking system.

The bank recently notified an upstate New York man that he was wrongly denied a mortgage modification, and enclosed a $25,000 check. But details of what went wrong have been hard to come by.

Growing home prices plus rising interest rates are putting a damper on mortgage lending, which pushes the market to seek out less qualified borrowers and increases the risk of fraud.

Despite an overall weak mortgage originations market, Flagstar Bancorp's third-quarter earnings grew 20%, due in large part to its ongoing efforts to diversify operations.