On the surface, mortgage banking operations posted a surprising improvement during the third quarter of 2008 that generated substantial gain in profitability. But the aggregate results reported by 19 major lenders in their third quarter earnings reports are significantly skewed by consolidation activity and... [Includes one chart]
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Conversations at the Mortgage Bankers Association’s annual convention this week in San Francisco did not focus on increasing profits so much as they did on reducing losses and the prospects for improved liquidity in the mortgage market. After putting the government-sponsored enterprises under conservatorship, the...
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Mortgage servicers may find themselves the beneficiaries of a new push by Washington policymakers to drum up incentives to help homeowners avert foreclosure, but it’s not clear what that relief might cost lenders. The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs this week discussed the federal government’s responses to the...
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Sound data management practices are critical if mortgage companies want to weather the perilous economic and housing crisis, industry experts say. Gabe Minton, chief operating officer at Mortgage Cadence, said that a lender’s top management needs to buy into the need for strong data management before...
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Declining origination volumes and growing pressures on profitability are pushing many lenders to look for ways to cut costs without negatively affecting productivity. Experts at this week’s annual convention of the Mortgage Bankers Association said eMortgages could be just the ticket. Joe Brancucci, executive vice president of BECU, noted that...
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Last week, Fannie Mae began the process of unwinding hundreds of principal and interest trust accounts and returning the control of P&I funds – and a source of servicer profitability – to mortgage servicers. The government-sponsored enterprise’s action came in the wake of an interim rule issued by...
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