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FICO has announced it is expanding its Score Open Access program, which offers complimentary credit score access to consumers with credit management problems. Now, the program will also provide credit and financial counseling to approximately one million Americans.

Several leading mortgage insurance providers for the industry have announced that if the enhanced Private Mortgage Insurer Eligibility Requirements (PMIERs) announced by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) went into effect today, they would be in complete compliance.

Fannie Mae’s software upgrade is part of an effort it’s been rolling out since the beginning of the year. The GSE introduced Collateral Underwriter to the market in January and has nearly 800 lenders registered as users already, according to the Monday announcement. For some, the new system makes immediate and obvious sense.

Though the gains in starts and permits are modest‒‒not to mention multi-faceted‒‒the upturn is certainly more welcome news to industry pundits than the numbers that came from February. That month, the U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reported that privately-owned housing starts had hit their lowest rate in years. Housing starts were down 17 percent from January and 3.3 percent below the February prior.

Fannie Mae has announced the launch of the HomePath Ready Buyer program, through which qualifying homebuyers can receive up to 3 percent of the home's purchase price in closing cost assistance toward the purchase of a HomePath property.

By 2013, the FHA‒‒the nation’s largest insurer of reverse mortgages‒‒received it’s first-ever bailout of $1.7 billion. At the same time, HECM defaults started to rise. By the middle of 2013, more than a half-million HECMs remained outstanding and the default rate hovered around 10 percent.

In the latest Fannie Mae National Housing Survey, studying the mortgage shopping experience homebuyers navigate these days, the authors found that two-thirds of buyers‒‒particularly the young and those who’ve already bought homes‒‒obtain multiple mortgage quotes, though newbies to the process typically rely on friendly advice to find a suitable lender and terms.

The Federal Home Loan Bank of New York this week announced that it will partner with Atlanta-based mortgage clearing house Mortgage Asset Exchange (MAX Exchange) to launch a pilot program that will allow certain FHLBNY members to sell conforming and jumbo residential whole loan mortgages on an open exchange platform.

As for credit availability, Fratantoni said that “a number of factors contributed to a loosening of credit in March.” One factor is Freddie Mac's introduction of its 97 percent LTV program, which allows for as little as 3 percent down payment on a new home purchase. Other factors included looser parameters on jumbo loan programs, increased cash-out refinance loans offerings, and the growth of FHA’s VA Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loan.

In a recent posting on Freddie’s blog, Boyle encourages mortgage seekers to keep in mind the “four Cs” ‒‒ the main four things lenders look at when deciding whether to write a loan. First there is the borrower’s capacity to repay the loan.