Tag Archives: Wells Fargo

The mortgage servicing industry's efforts to adhere to nationwide reforms hasn't gone unnoticed by consumers, according to J.D. Power's 2013 U.S. Primary Mortgage Servicer Satisfaction Study.

As major lenders start releasing their second-quarter earnings reports, Fitch Ratings anticipates future filings will show the impact of higher interest rates on banks' mortgage earnings.

The most recent Housing Opportunity Index (HOI) from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and Wells Fargo shows home affordability slipping slightly in the first quarter. According to the index, 73.7 percent of new and existing-homes sold in the first quarter of this year were affordable to families earning the U.S. median income, a decline from 74.9 percent in Q4 2012. Despite the decrease, NAHB Chairman Rick Judson noted the HOI has still stayed high over the past four years.

Estimated Q1 originations by all U.S. lenders came out to about $505 billion, according to Mortgage Daily.

New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman revealed plans Monday to take legal action against Bank of America and Wells Fargo for allegedly violating terms under the national mortgage settlement reached in February 2012. The AG's office also revealed Schneiderman sent a letter last week to the settlement monitor Joseph Smith and to each member of the Monitoring Committee notifying them of his intention to sue the banks if the committee does not act.

Mortgage Daily tracked a total of 15 mortgage-related business closings in the first quarter of 2013, putting the year on pace to see the fewest number of mortgage banking failures in seven years. While Q1's casualty rate was greater than Q4 2012 (when 13 businesses shut down or collapsed), it's an improvement over Q1 2012, which saw 27 total closings. At the current pace, Mortgage Daily forecasts around 60 mortgage-related closings this year, down from 83 last year and the lowest level since 2006.

Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase both pulled in record quarterly profits during the first months of 2013, according to earnings reports released Friday by both banks. Wells Fargo reported record net income of $5.2 billion for Q1 2013, up from $5.1 billion quarter-over-quarter and from $4.2 billion year-over-year. JPMorgan also posted strong performance across its businesses, recording a net income of $6.5 billion (compared with $4.9 billion in the first quarter of 2012).

After recently reporting predictions of declining originations, FBR Capital Markets & Co., now says the market looks a little brighter, and a resurgence of refinances through the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) will contribute to originations volumes this year. While FBR maintains its prediction that origination volume will be lower than the volumes recorded in the second half of last year, the company now suggests originations "will largely be better than the 20-25 percent drop-off we projected late last week."

Walter Investment Management Corp. announced Tuesday that its wholly owned subsidiary, Reverse Mortgage Solutions, Inc. (RMS), has acquired a reverse mortgage servicing portfolio containing more than 76,000 loans from Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. The portfolio has an unpaid principal balance of about $12.2 billion and is expected to transfer to RMS during the third quarter of 2013, Walter Investment said in a release. The transaction will double the size of Walter Investment's serviced book, according to CEO and chairman Mark J. O'Brien.

Wells Fargo has another jewel to add to its crown: The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) ranked the bank as the top commercial/multifamily mortgage originator for 2012. Among other categories: Bank of America Merrill Lynch was the top originator for commercial bank loans, while Red Mortgage Capital, LLC was No. 1 for loans guaranteed by Ginnie Mae or the Federal Housing Administration. Cohen Financial was the top originator for specialty finance.