Mortgages

The Federal Housing Finance Agency won't keep renewing initiatives like the Home Affordable Refinance Program in perpetuity, even if it is extended again before it expires in December, Director Mel Watt said Wednesday.

Some newcomers to mortgage servicing did not hedge because hedging would have increased costs. Had rates moved up, the strategy would have paid off handsomely. Instead, it worked against them.

KeyCorp has named Mark Danahy president of its mortgage operations. Danahy had been managing director of Citigroup's U.S. mortgage operation from July 2011 to May 2014 and, before that, was president and chief executive of PHH Mortgage.

Two years after Citigroup was punished for widespread foreclosure abuses, the bank is dealing with another misstep: Thousands of people who were entitled to settlement checks never got any money.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray said a review of its "qualified mortgage" rule will allow enough time to consider changes if lawmakers fail to make progress on housing finance before a key deadline.

JPMorgan Chase has agreed to a $50.4 million settlement with the Justice Department for robo-signing documents sent to homeowners in bankruptcy and for related abuses.

An audit of Ginnie Mae financials identified four "material weaknesses" and one "significant deficiency," primarily related to the accounting of $6.6 billion in defaulted loans made by the failed lender Taylor, Bean & Whitaker.

Embattled mortgage servicer Ocwen Financial faces up to $26 billion in damage claims by bondholders and a greater risk of being fired as a mortgage servicer on thousands of small, private-label trusts.

Fresh questions are being asked about the role of investors in the rental market and how their eventual exit may impact mortgage lending, property values and the economic recovery.

Amid heartbreaking tales told by distressed homeowners and reverse mortgage holders, many community groups praised OneWest CEO Joseph Otting for spending time speaking to them and hearing their communities' concerns.

The Federal Housing Administration's recent premium reduction is undercutting the private sector and expanding the government's role in the housing market, housing finance industry representatives told a House subcommittee on Thursday.

Problems related to loan servicing dominate the consumer complaints about mortgage companies made to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, but an agency official expressed optimism about the industry's response to these grievances.

One in three struggling homeowners who received a loan modification through the Home Affordable Modification Program ultimately redefaulted on those loan.Meanwhile, the program that was supposed to help some 4 million families avoid foreclosure has helped only a fraction of that amount, according to a report presented to Congress.

San Francisco-based Sindeo is trying to bring the mortgage brokerage business into the future, creating a new online service that focuses on helping consumers navigate the often confusing mortgage process from start to finish.

The heightened regulatory environment for servicers has also prompted a wave of process improvements.

American Banker’s Index of Banking Activity hit a three-year low in January as falling oil prices and harsh winter weather tamped down borrowing.

It's easy for banks to spin their wheels on local reinvestment, financial education and other efforts to help underserved communities. To make outreach programs successful, bank executives need to carefully vet nonprofit and other partners, listen to their employees on the front lines and reflect on their own reasons for getting into banking.

It's not quite too big to fail, but Ocwen is the country's largest servicer of subprime mortgages. So if it were forced to sell itself, or even failed, the transfer of some $410 billion in servicing rights could create havoc in the mortgage market, industry experts said.

Most millennials do almost all of their other business on a portable device, so they want to have this same functionality when buying a home.

New Residential Investment Corp., a U.S. real estate investment trust, agreed to buy Home Loan Servicing Solutions Ltd. for about $1.3 billion.