In supplemental materials to his speech, President Obama referenced the GSEs' “failed business model,” adding that taxpayers should never again be “on the hook for bad loans and bailouts.”

Back in September SLS – a subsidiary of the publicly traded Stewart Information Services – bought key assets of Allon’s Allonhill LLC for an undisclosed sum.

Industry consultant Joe Garrett is telling clients that, “We’ve heard of at least one company that uses a fake rate sheet when recruiting loan officers. As you can guess, it shows really great rates, all fake, of course.”

Investment banking and mortgage executives believe the departures at MRP could mean that the industry’s battle against the use of eminent domain is over and that the strategy is now kaput.

The fast growing nonbank servicer/lender also disclosed a preliminary fourth quarter profit in the range of $101 million to $106 million, a 50 percent jump from the prior period.

Mortgage topics don’t always make the President’s State of the Union speech, but President Obama Tuesday night may touch on the issue of credit availability and whether the government has “gone too far.”

If Flagstar changes hands, what might become of its loan broker business, the second largest in the nation?

Meanwhile, MountainView Servicing Group is also in the market with a new MSR offering: $224 million of receivables backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac product.

The cost of mortgage compliance was a topic making the rounds at the recent ABS Vegas show in Nevada. Attendees, of course, wanted to know who might pay for all the new added costs.

Most of what Fannie and Freddie earn in the fourth quarter will go directly into the coffers of the U.S. Treasury Department.