News

The average interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) slipped 7 basis points in the last week, settling at 3.59 percent (0.7 point) for the week ending February 5, Freddie Mac reported Thursday. "Mortgage rates fell this week following the release of weaker than expected pending home sales, which fell 3.7 percent in December," said Len Kiefer, deputy chief economist for Freddie Mac.

Mortgage Machine Services (MMS), an enterprise lending solutions provider based in North Texas, will begin offering the source code to its flagship loan origination system (LOS) to the entire mortgage industry, the company said in an announcement.

Witnesses offered testimony to the subcommittee that senior HUD employees violated federal employment law practices as well as HUD policies by hiring Debra Gross, a former registered lobbyist, for a position with HUD's Office of Public and Indian Housing.

In a note to stakeholders released Thursday, Faris reviewed a handful of the regulatory hurdles Ocwen has had to deal with in the past year, including a long-running investigation from New York's top financial regulator that eventually resulted in a $150 million settlement.

The refinance boom may be losing steam, but near-record low mortgage rates encouraged more borrowers to refinance in Q4, according to Freddie Mac's 2014 Q4 Refinance Report released Wednesday. Mortgagors who refinanced their loans in 2014 are projected to save on net a total of about $5 billion in interest over the next year, according to the report.

In Denver, Titan Lenders Corp., a firm specializing in mortgage services, is headed into 2015 strong after closing the book on one of its best years yet, according to an announcement.

In a meeting with reporters on Wednesday, Mel Watt, former U.S. representative and chief of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) since December 2013, discussed a number of key issues facing the GSEs and the agency, touching on topics ranging from recently introduced low down payment programs to the often debated subject of principal reduction for struggling homeowners.

Bank of America was ordered to pay a $1.27 billion penalty in July 2014 as a result of its alleged role in the "Hustle" case. The bank had been fighting to overturn that verdict since, claiming that the HSSL program ended prior to its acquisition of Countrywide.

LenderLive Network, a national mortgage services provider headquartered in Colorado, introduced on Tuesday the two newest regional account executives for its Correspondent Lending division: Andrew Lion and Wendy Lovett.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said Wednesday that mortgage loan applications rose a seasonally adjusted 1.3 percent for the week ending January 30. It was the third increase of the month, following a minor holiday-adjusted drop the previous week.