Foreclosures | Mortgages | Financing
SunTrust Banks Inc. saw a bigger quarter-over-quarter decline in home lending than many of its peers. But its mortgage servicing grew.
Before the provision for income taxes, the Atlanta-based bank-holding company earned $629 million during the three months ended March 31.
SunTrust delivered the data, along with other financial and operational metrics, in its earnings report for the first-quarter 2017.
From:: Financing
Mortgage servicing rights on a portfolio of mostly Alt-A loans are on the market. A big share of the mortgages are secured by California properties.
The bulk offering is for MSRs on 3,699 residential loans that had an aggregate unpaid principal balance of $898.630 billion as of Feb. 28.
Private investor loans included in the offering number 3,272, while there are 234 Fannie Mae mortgages and 193 Freddie Mac loans.
From:: Financing
The annual rate of pre-owned home sales surged last month, reaching the highest level in more than a decade. The Northeast led the gain.
March 2017 saw the closing of 456,000 existing U.S. home sales. Activity spiked from the 315,000 home sales during the previous month.
Pre-owned residential property sales were also higher compared to the same month last year, when existing home sales amounted to 421,000.
From:: Financing
Four months after revealing that the global chief of its mortgage business was leaving, Citigroup Inc. has named a replacement from within the firm.
Jonathan Larsen became the New York-based financial services company’s global head of retail banking and mortgages in July 2012.
But in December 2016, an internal memo from Citigroup Chief Executive Officer Global Consumer Banking Stephen Bird indicated Larsen was leaving.
From:: Financing
The level of late payments on America’s home loans retreated last month — leaving performance metrics looking better than anytime in the last 11 years.
March 2017 closed out with 2.279 million residential loans that were either at least 30 days past due or in the foreclosure pre-sale inventory.
That number was way down from one month prior, when the total worked out to 2.605 million, and one year prior, when it came to 2.693 million.
From:: Financing
After falling to the lowest levels this year, fixed mortgage rates further retreated. The outlook for the next interest rate report is for no further declines.
Average 30-year note rates on residential loans closed during March were 4.39 percent, up from 4.36 percent a month earlier and 4.12 percent a year earlier.
Last month’s average was 4.50 percent on conventional loans, 4.32 percent on Federal Housing Administration-insured loans and 4.10 percent on Department of Veterans Affairs loans.
From:: Financing
Ocwen Financial Corp. Thursday was hit with multiple government lawsuits and regulatory orders issued by more than 20 states over its servicing practices and handling of escrow accounts.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau today filed a complaint in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida against the West Palm Beach, Florida-based firm.
Also named as defendants in the federal lawsuit are subsidiaries Ocwen Mortgage Servicing Inc. and Ocwen Loan Servicing LLC.
From:: Financing
MGIC increased its quarterly earnings, expanded its book of business and cut delinquency. But new business moved down from the prior period.
The Milwaukee-based mortgage insurance company earned $174 million before taxes during the three months ended March 31, 2017.
Parent-MGIC Investment Corp. disclosed the details, along with other operational and financial metrics, in its first-quarter 2017 earnings report.
From:: Financing
A mild month-over-month bump was recorded for residential loan modifications that were done through mortgage servicers’ own proprietary programs.
During February 2017, servicers successfully completed 29,729 loans modifications, including proprietary and Home Affordable Loan Modifications.
Volume rose from 19,850 a month earlier. Loan modification volume also increased from the same month last year, when there were 27,056 completed.
From:: Financing
Home lending economists have improved their expectations for this year refinances. But the boost came at the expense of expected purchase financing.
During the second quarter, residential loan originations, including refinancings and purchase-money lending, are predicted to total $459 billion.
U.S. mortgage production is then expected to decline to $424 billion three months later and $348 billion during the final-three months of the year.
From:: Financing