Daily Dose

The letter, dated April 15, is addressed to Department of Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt, and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Richard Cordray. Ten housing groups signed the letter, which asks the regulators to investigate the investors for allegedly attempting to push borrowers into foreclosure instead of steering them toward loss mitigation plans.

The districts of Richmond, Chicago, and Dallas reported that residential mortgage demand, particularly in the area of refinancings, grew during the period, while New York reported steady growth. Delinquencies were down or at low levels in New York and Cleveland, while Philadelphia and Kansas City bankers expressed confidence in the quality of their loan portfolios, according to the Fed.

The bill, better known as the Bureau Advisory Commission Transparency Act, was introduced by Representative Sean Duffy (R-Wisconsin) on March 4 with co-sponsors Randy Neugebauer (R-Texas) and Andy Barr (R-Kentucky).

Also, lower gains in private equity partially offset the increase in fee revenue in asset management and mortgage banking Chase received in Q1. Chase's net interest income for Q1 was $11 billion, which was relatively unchanged from Q1 2014.

Also under the terms of the settlement, there was no disgorgement, civil penalty, or admission of wrongdoing on the part of any of the parties, according to a press release from Zuckerman Spaeder, the firm that represented defendant Patricia Cook.

HUD estimates that the money they provide in grants, combined with other funds they plan to leverage, will assist more than a million and a half individuals and families with finding housing, making more informed choices with regards to housing, and staying in their current homes.

Announcement of the loss hardly comes as a surprise. The firm announced in early February that it was anticipating a loss in its then-coming earnings report. That announcement was followed by a spate of sales of servicing rights to several firms.

Foreclosure inventory, which is the number of homes in some state of foreclosure, totaled 553,000 in February (about 1.4 percent of all residential mortgages nationwide), the lowest total since March 2008 and a year-over-year decline of 27.3 percent from February 2014, when there were 761,000 homes in some state of foreclosure (1.9 percent of all residential mortgages).

Fannie Mae just announced last week that it is in the process of marketing its first-ever bulk sale of non-performing loans. Bids are due for this bundle of NPLs, worth about $786 million, on May 6 and the sale is expected to close in mid- to late June – but there could be more similar sales coming later.

Economists at both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have stuck to their predictions that housing will recover in 2015 despite receiving recent reports of slower-than-expected economic growth in the first quarter, including job gains that fell well short of expectations in March. "We remain comfortable with our call that the Fed funds rate lift-off will occur in September," Fannie Mae chief economist Doug Duncan said last week. "The setback in the hiring picture is in line with consumer sentiment regarding the housing market from the Fannie Mae National Housing Survey."