The Federal Housing Finance Agency this week killed a plan being heavily promoted by Fannie Mae to reduce force-placed insurance rates.

Is PennyMac Financial Services, which just filed for an IPO, really part of PNC?

Wells Fargo is contemplating selling some of its massive $1.906 trillion residential servicing portfolio while maintain a subservicing relationship with the end consumer.

Hedge fund giant Cerberus is forming a mortgage investing REIT that will target not just MBS but servicing rights and related assets.

Is BlackRock up to something regarding its investment in Redwood Trust?

David Schneider, CEO of Vericrest Financial, a fast growing servicer that is rumored to be a bidder on Ally Financial’s $122 billion of mortgage servicing rights, has left the company, sources familiar with the situation told Inside Mortgage Finance. Schneider could not be reached for comment at deadline. A spokeswoman for the company would not comment on the situation but would not deny his departure either. Schneider has been building bridges in the servicing community…

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is concerned about large scale transfers of mortgage servicing rights.

Nationstar sets a target goal of amassing $500 billion of mortgage servicing rights.

Residential mortgages sourced through the correspondent channel and sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac increased by 26 percent in 2012 compared to the year before.

Morgan Stanley recently increased its ownership stake in Fortress which in turn controls a large block of Nationstar stock.