Fannie Mae reported a $1.8 billion net income for Q3 this year, an improvement over the $5.1 billion loss last year.

Government agencies are continuing their regulatory investigation of mortgage activities at Wells Fargo and Wachovia, according to a report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Wells Fargo absorbed Wachovia in 2008 when Wachovia's shaky mortgage portfolio threatened the bank's soundness. The government is looking into activities regarding mortgage origination and securitization, including risk disclosures at Wachovia.

Mortgage activity was down last week, dropping 11 percent from the previous week and by almost one-third from the same week last year.

The FDIC added two more banks to this year's failed bank list Friday, bringing the total year-to-date to 49. The two shuttered banks were located in Illinois and Florida, each marking the eighth bank in their state to close this year.

CoreLogic seeks to improve the analytics that help drive underwriting standards in order to help lenders make better lending decisions.

According to the CFPB, an examination of financial institutions found "instances of significant non-compliance with" regulatory statutes.

Mortgage Marvel, a mortgage-shopping website with headquarters in Mequon, Wisconsin, recently announced a new guarantee for borrowers seeking closing fee quotes. If Mortgage Marvel quotes closing fees that exceed actual the actual fee by more than $50, the company will pay the consumer up to $2,500.

Federal regulators released a notice Tuesday stating their support for financial institutions operating in areas affected by Hurricane Sandy. They both encouraged affected institutions to work to meet the needs of their communities and expressed their lenience on certain reporting and publishing requirements for those institutions.

Mortgagebot has seen 800,000 online mortgage loan applications pass through its system year-to-date as of the end of September.

Ernst Publishing Company, based in Albany, New York, has just released a new real estate closing cost data search engine called Smart Query II. Having provided closing cost data to the industry for 20 years, Ernst updated its offering to include additional data and provide information faster than before.