Mortgage M&A historians might recall that last decade, before the financial crisis struck, Countrywide Financial Corp. was in serious talks to buy PHH’s mortgage business...

PHH has retained Credit Suisse Securities and J.P. Morgan as financial advisors and Jones Day as legal advisor “to assist in the process.”

Among the top 10 non-agency jumbo mortgage producers in 2015 just two are nonbanks: PHH Mortgage and Redwood Trust.

Zais said a strategic review of the REIT will continue, including exploration of a possible sale or even a liquidation of the company’s assets.

PHH has been losing money and so far this year its stock price has been hammered.

Early last year PIMCO still had designs on RoundPoint Mortgage, Charlotte, which ranks 23rd among residential servicers, according to a tally from Inside Mortgage Finance.

After rates plunged earlier in the year, servicing auctions slowed somewhat, but are once again hitting the market.

TRID errors were a topic of discussion at the LendersOne mortgage cooperative meeting in New Orleans. Pete Mills, senior vice president of the Mortgage Bankers Association, was giving a presentation.

According to survey figures from Inside Mortgage Finance, wholesale/broker production accounted for 9.6 percent of fundings in the fourth quarter of 2015...

Bond investing giant Pacific Investment Management Co. once again has its ears open for potential acquisitions in the residential finance space, including mortgage franchises or “assets,” according to investment bankers and sources close to the company. These officials, who spoke under the condition their names not be used, identified a handful of acquisitions that have been presented to PIMCO, including a nonbank based in the Charlotte, NC, area. As Inside Mortgage Finance went to press this week PIMCO – and the target acquisition – could not be reached for comment. As a technical matter, the investments are being made...