The Federal Housing Administration is expected to ask for Congressional approval to raise the annual insurance premium on its loans to at least 75 basis points and perhaps higher, according to industry officials interviewed by National Mortgage News.
Flagstar Bank is seeing continued growth in its warehouse lending business with the dollar volume of commitments to nonbank mortgage lenders rising 40% at year-end compared to the same period a year earlier.
Consumers extracted just $11 billion in equity from their homes using cash-out refinancing loans in the fourth quarter, the smallest such volume in nine years, according to new figures released by Freddie Mac.
Fitch Ratings, New York, is maintaining its negative outlook for the private mortgage insurance business in 2010.
The Department of Justice is forming a special Fair Lending Unit which is expected to aggressively pursue residential lenders and brokers that engage in what the government calls “toxic and discriminatory” loans.
Old Republic International Corp., Chicago, lost $99 million for the full year 2009, a loss that would have been nearly $50 million greater except for the restatement of its third quarter results earlier this week.
The Obama Administration is finally making headway in its effort to get Bank of America and other large servicers to modify second liens when they modify first mortgages.
