Mortgages

A private flood insurance bill passed by the House is making Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac uneasy because they fear it could lead to greater losses, according to a recent report by the Government Accountability Office.

The best thing about second-quarter results so far is that the bigger banks met or beat low earnings-per-share expectations. Otherwise they were challenged on many fronts, including revenue, expenses and margins.

A California man was sentenced to more than nine years in federal prison for his role in leading a mortgage loan modification scheme that defrauded more than 1,000 homeowners nationwide.

Federal Housing Administration borrowers have been refinancing faster than expected, creating a drag on efforts to build up the capital reserves of the agency's mortgage insurance fund.

The Mortgage Partnership Finance Direct program will now accept larger jumbo mortgages and a wider variety of products including hybrid adjustable rate mortgages, the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago and Redwood Trust said Monday.

Mortgage originations typically surge in a low-rate environment. Second-quarter reports should show an uptick in fees from selling those loans, but what will bankers say about the rest of this year?

The San Francisco bank reported a 17% drop in mortgage fee income during the second quarter as other lenders made inroads by refinancing its customers.

The Senate approved a bill Thursday by unanimous consent that includes major reforms to the Federal Housing Administration condominium loan program and the Rural Housing Service loan program.

Upcoming risk retention requirements may be the proverbial straw that breaks the back of the commercial mortgage-backed securities market.

Profit rose at First Republic Bank in the second quarter, as higher loan originations and fee-based business offset a spike in employee salaries that was partly caused by the bank raising its minimum wage.

WASHINGTON — Republican lawmakers put Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro on the hot seat Wednesday, criticizing his decision to allow nonprofit community groups to bid on more nonperforming Federal Housing Administration loans.

Jack Kuntz, president and chief executive at American Savings Bank in Portsmouth, Ohio, recently put his personal cell phone number on a billboard off Interstate 71 in Cincinnati as part of an advertising campaign for his $260 million-asset institution.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recently dressed down the mortgage industry for failing to invest in technology. Here are 10 tech ideas from our colleagues at fellow SourceMedia publication National Mortgage News that could improve efficiency, margins and the industry's image among growing demographics. Some might sound farfetched, but so do most great inventions at first. Dream big.

Freddie Mac is on track to issue mortgage-backed securities via a common securities platform by the end of this year, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

The sharp fall in gas prices early this year helped U.S. consumers to stay current on their credit obligations during the first quarter.

The scheme is used by borrowers who don't have enough income to qualify for a regular mortgage, so they apply for a higher-rate non-owner-occupied loan.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency has opened the door to experimenting with front-end credit risk transfer transactions, but it is not wide enough for some market players.

The U.S. mortgage market is of course considerably smaller, safer and less accessible than it was nine years ago.

Fannie and Freddie regulator's first report on NPL sales shows more borrowers avoid foreclosures when their loans are sold to investors.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp is buying a bank with a national mortgage platform. The company hopes the business will provide a much-needed lift in fee income.