Fannie Mae's gross mortgage portfolio has now expanded in two of the last three months following an increase at a compound annualized rate of 7.8 percent in March, according to Fannie Mae's March 2015 Monthly Volume Summary released Thursday.

"I am proud of what we have accomplished as far as managing the business through this difficult transition period. We made great progress on our asset sale strategy, have returned to profitability and continue to generate substantial operating cash flow," said Ron Faris, President and CEO of Ocwen. "However, I am not satisfied with only making $34 million in the quarter. We intend to do better."

Philadelphia-based Radian reported $9.4 billion in new mortgage insurance written (NIW) and $172.1 billion in total primary mortgage insurance in force during Q1, according to the company's First Quarter 2015 Financial Results released Thursday.

The new THUD Appropriations bill would essentially eliminate the Housing Trust Fund but would instead direct GSE money into the HOME Investment Partnerships Program, which is a federal block grant that provides states and localities with a flexible funding source to meet their diverse affordable housing needs.

The Dodd-Frank Act Stress Tests (DFAST) – Severely Adverse Scenario report indicated that the two GSEs would need a second taxpayer bailout, this time of up to $157.3 billion, under hypothetical adverse economic conditions that included a rise in the nation's unemployment level up to 10 percent by the middle of 2016; a decline in real GDP as large as 4.5 percent by the end of 2015 before recovery begins in 2016; and long term interest rates drop significantly while short-term rates remain near zero.

Safeguard's major innovations recently include the industry's first Mobile Inspections Quality Control suite, designed to reduce risks, expedite results that are reported from the field, and improve the quality of information provided to Safeguard's clients.

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) responded in the Federal Register on Wednesday to comments on the alternative path to claim payment (the Mortgagee Optional Election Assignment) for certain Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECMs), which centers on the delaying of foreclosure on a non-borrowing spouse following a borrowing spouse's death.

In spite of the recent reports of slow economic growth in Q1, Fannie Mae has maintained its forecast for GDP growth of 2.8 percent this year and its position that the economy will "drag housing upward." Fannie Mae chief economist and SVP Doug Duncan pointed out that the actuals as far as housing – existing home sales, new home sales, and prices – were either at or very close to their predicted levels during Q1, and mortgage purchase applications have been way up for the last couple of months.

At the heart of the FDIC's claim is that the banks misled Alabama-based Colonial Bank, an FDIC-insured institution, as to the quality of $300 million worth of mortgage-backed securities they sold to Colonial in the run-up to the financial crisis. As a result of the soured securities, Colonial suffered huge losses and went into receivership in 2009. FDIC sued the banks three years later in 2012, claiming the banks violated the Securities Act of 1933.

The loans being offered in the pool are deeply delinquent and are geographically diverse. All the loans in the pool are currently being serviced by Ocwen Financial. Bids are due from qualified bidders for the pool on May 20 and the sale is expected to settle sometime in July.