Old Republic International is planning to recapitalize its mortgage guaranty subsidiary, RMIC Companies, Inc., allowing the company to resume underwriting in early 2014, adding to the flow of new capital coming into the private mortgage insurance business. It is unclear how much money is needed to recapitalize RMIC, which is currently in a run-off mode, but Old Republic plans to contribute up to $50 million and raise additional funds in the capital markets to resurrect its MI subsidiaries. The company did not reply to requests for comment. Material increases in mortgage insurance claims and loss payments that began in 2007 gradually depleted...

The last time private MIs did more business than either the FHA or the VA was back in the first quarter of 2008. At that point, however, private MIs accounted for well over half of primary MI new business.

On Thursday morning, Fairholme chief Bruce Berkowitz said, "We’re talking to everyone about this plan,” then added: “We’d love to talk to Treasury.”

The STACR deal was structured so that Freddie Mac will take the first 30 basis points of losses on the transaction, followed by private investors, which bought debt notes on the following 300 basis points of potential losses.

Pete Carroll's mortgage credentials include a stint at Overture Technologies, a mortgage technology firm based in the Washington, DC, area.

Cash-out refis are at all-time lows compared to the peak in 2006 when $84 billion in equity was withdrawn by consumers.

One trade group official told Inside Mortgage Finance that despite efforts by the Federal Housing Finance Agency to create g-fee parity for lenders of different sizes, there has been little in the way of progress.

Are mortgage bankers so diabolical that they attempt to find a way around new regulations? Industry consultant Joe Garrett of Garrett, McAuley & Co. thinks so.

The changes via Desktop Underwriter include tougher debt calculations for adjustable-rate loans and a complete removal of interest-only loan options.

While the report doesn’t mention FHFA Acting Director Edward DeMarco by name, it's a clear repudiation of his stewardship of the agency.