Mortgages

Going forward, Fannie Mae will be relying more on loan guarantee fee income from its single-family and multifamily businesses.

Fannie Mae will make a $919 million dividend payment to the U.S. Treasury Department after reporting a first-quarter profit driven by fees for guaranteeing loans against default and credit-related income.

New rules have made it more challenging to originate mortgages without drawing attention from regulators. Mercantile Bank in Michigan, however, believes that positive trends in its biggest markets are incentive enough to hire lenders and improve its systems.

Freddie Mac's second quarterly loss in less than a year makes it clear profitability is getting tougher as it shrinks. But it's a concern that must be weighed against more long-term efforts to reduce Freddie's overall credit risk exposure.

With agencies created by the Dodd-Frank Act embroiled in court battles and continued questions dealing with "too big to fail," can anyone honestly say the reform law is working?

Freddie Mac won't make a dividend payment to the Treasury Department after declining interest rates and widening spreads on investments triggered a $354 million first-quarter loss for the mortgage finance giant.

Bank of America said it reached a $190 million agreement to resolve a six-year-old legal claim from Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle over mortgage-backed securities sold before the financial crisis.

Amalgamated Bank in New York has started offering down payment insurance to homebuyers in a move it hopes will set it apart with highly mobile millennial borrowers.

Servicing rights are high-yielding assets, making them attractive investments for hedge funds, real estate investment trusts and banks.

The House passed a bill Thursday that would authorize state insurance commissioners to approve flood insurance policies for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and other federally backed mortgages.