An increase in interest rates will help boost originations of non-agency nonprime mortgages, according to panelists at a webinar hosted by Inside Mortgage Finance this week. Higher interest rates will make it less attractive for prime borrowers to refinance, which could force lenders to look for volume elsewhere, including the nonprime market. Purchase mortgages account for a large share of the nonprime loans originated in recent years and higher interest rates could also increase nonprime mortgages aimed at debt consolidation. Matthew Nichols, CEO of Deephaven Mortgage, said...

Lone Star Funds is preparing to issue a $216.97 million MBS backed by newly originated nonprime mortgages, according to presale reports published this week. The deal will help the market for new nonprime MBS outpace issuance of jumbo MBS, at least momentarily. Last month, Deephaven Mortgage issued a $154.33 million MBS backed by new nonprime mortgages and Angel Oak Capital Advisors issued a $132.65 million MBS, neither of which received credit ratings. Lone Star’s COLT 2016-2 is scheduled to close next week. Two jumbo MBS were issued...

Investor demand for nonprime whole loans is increasing – which is a good thing for primary market originators – but will it create problems for firms that want to issue securities? In some quarters, there’s a concern that if enough investors appear, it will increase whole-loan prices, making securitization less economical and therefore more difficult. “We’re definitely seeing...

Bank and thrift holdings of first-lien mortgages increased by 2.4 percent in the second quarter of 2016, according to an Inside Nonconforming Markets analysis of bank and thrift call reports. The holdings were boosted by jumbo mortgages, with few of the loans being delivered into mortgage-backed securities. Banks and thrifts held $1.90 trillion in first liens as of the end of June, up $44.22 billion from the end of March. Some $101.00 billion in jumbos were ... [Includes one data chart]

The next mortgage-backed security from Lone Star Funds backed by new nonprime originations will be larger than the deal it issued in June, according to presale reports published this week. The planned $216.97 million COLT 2016-2 will be the largest MBS backed by post-crisis nonprime originations, topping the $161.71 million COLT 2016-1. The MBS scheduled to close next week differs in some ways from the previous MBS from Lone Star. The firm’s Caliber Home Loans ...

Wells Fargo was hit with fines totaling $185.0 million this week for secretly opening unauthorized accounts for customers at the bank. Regulators said the bank’s incentives for cross-selling financial products pushed employees at Wells to open unwanted deposit and credit card accounts for customers of the bank. The fines were imposed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ($100.0 million, the largest penalty ever imposed by the CFPB), the city and county of Los Angeles ...

Angel Oak Mortgage Solutions has significantly increased its nonprime wholesale lending this year, according to an offering document for the $132.65 million nonprime mortgage-backed security recently issued by Angel Oak Capital Advisors. AOMS originated $222.25 million in nonprime wholesale originations in the first half of this year, nearlyl matching its $224.16 million total for all of last year. But retail production at Angel Oak Home Loans has declined ...

The looser underwriting standards Redwood Trust rolled out earlier this year for jumbo mortgages are aimed at aggregating loans that banks won’t necessarily acquire, according to officials at the real estate investment trust. Redwood introduced its “Choice” program in April, allowing for credit scores as low as 661, debt-to-income ratios as high as 49.99 percent and combined loan-to-value ratios up to 90.0 percent. The characteristics aren’t all allowed on the same loan. For a ...

A $6.20 billion portfolio backed largely by jumbo mortgages originated in recent years was sold last week, according to Interactive Data. The portfolio appears to have been sold by Premium Point Investments, though the hedge fund wouldn’t confirm that. Premium Point backed WinWater Home Mortgage, which stopped issuing jumbo mortgage-backed securities earlier this year. Impac Mortgage Holdings announced this week an offering of 2.5 million shares ... [Includes two briefs]

Real estate investment trusts that specialize in residential MBS posted a slight increase in their agency MBS holdings during the second quarter of 2016, along with a drop in non-agency MBS. The 16 publicly traded mortgage REITs tracked by Inside MBS & ABS had a combined residential MBS portfolio of $234.65 billion at the end of June, a gain of 0.9 percent from the previous quarter. However, 11 of the institutions reported declining balances, including the two largest REITs at the top of the ranking. Two Harbors Investment reported...[Includes one data table]