Mortgages

The end of the refinancing boom and impending rise in rates are not the only challenges lenders face. As one observer put it, they "can't make loans on homes that don't exist."

At first the deal seemed an unlikely marriage of two mortgage-heavy companies. But acquiring the Michigan company would help New York Community accomplish its two chief goals — reducing deposit costs and its concentration of multifamily loans — while giving it the scale to pursue more deals.

The lender will expand certain mortgage products, like its HomeRun program, which requires lower down payments and removes mortgage-insurance requirements for lower-income borrowers.

Deposits keep flooding in, mortgage lending shows signs of cooling, and bankers can’t agree on when commercial lending will rebound. Here’s what we learned from first-quarter results.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau disputes a district court ruling that misconduct claims against the company were already covered by a previous settlement.

The Dallas company agreed to sell MSRs tied to $14 billion of mortgages to PHH Mortgage.

The quarter-to-quarter increases bested expectations, suggesting that large banks are regaining market share in mortgage lending

Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mark Calabria said he wants to work with the consumer bureau on an “exit strategy” for borrowers approaching the end of their forbearance periods.

If passed, the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act introduced last week could spur development of 2 million rental units for low- and moderate-income households over the next decade.

The Michigan lender agreed in 2012 to pay $133 million to resolve civil fraud charges tied to government-backed mortgages. But the deal with the Justice Department came with a catch that eventually allowed Flagstar to pay far less.