MGIC Investment Corp. (MTG: 12.20, -2.87%) said late Thursday that it will pull back the reins on its mortgage insurance underwriting standards for the second time this year, after announcing sweeping changes to its programs that went into effect March 3. The changes announced yesterday are scheduled to go into effect June 1, and are [...]

Because we’ve been talking about fraud here in the BuzzPost, a little blurb at the Wall Street Journal Friday caught our eye. It appears two gentlemen out of New York thought it would be a good idea (allegedly, of course) to skim off the top of refinancing activity sold to Fannie Mae, and to “recreate” [...]

Some junk-bond investors — yes, that’s how we’re going to refer to the market for subprime RMBS and related securities — made a killing snapping up subprime-backed issues during the boom. James Kelsoe at Morgan Asset Management Inc. was certainly one of them, a star manager of seven funds at the company. He was also one [...]

Citigroup Inc. (C: 23.63, -2.76%) said Friday that it will reduce so-called non-core assets by $500 billion over the next several years as the banking and financial services giant looks to reel in its capital base and divest of riskier assets. The news comes as part of the company’s investor day, and as CEO Vikram [...]

PHH Corp. (PHH: 19.38, +1.31%) said Friday that losses in its mortgage production business narrowed during the first quarter to $8 million, compared to a $39 million loss one year earlier — a smidgen of good news for a battered industry. Unfortunately, the company’s servicing operations swung strongly into the red, posting a [...]

Late Thursday, Fremont General Corp. said that it had agreed to sell its remaining $12.2 billion servicing portfolio to Litton Loan Servicing LP, a well-known subprime and scratch-and-dent mortgage servicer. The sale represents a coup of sorts for Goldman Sachs (GS: 188.09, +0.20%), which picked up Litton from the rubble of former scratch-and-dent giant Credit-Based [...]

Reiterating a stance he took in the company’s recent earnings call, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM: 46.57, +1.13%) CEO Jamie Dimon told investors Thursday afternoon that the credit crisis is almost over, after nearly a year of rocking the world’s financial markets. Via MarketWatch: “I look at it as like (it is) 75-85% done,” CEO Jamie Dimon [...]

It’s the heat of mREIT earnings season — some folks sizzled, while others sagged. We’ve got the rundown for you in today’s column. Don’t Call It a Comeback At least not for the mighty Cohen clan, who control three specialty mREITs – Alesco Financial (AFN: 3.92, -0.51%), RAIT Financial (RAS: 9.30, +2.65%), and Resource Capital Corp. (RSO: [...]

Thursday afternoon, the House of Representatives approved language authored by Reps. Gary Miller (CA-R) and Jerry McNerney (CA-D) to permanently increase the loan limits for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Housing Administration. When the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 was signed into law earlier this year, the loan limit for both GSE and [...]

The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed a controversial housing package that includes a Democratic-led proposal to authorize the Federal government insure up to $300 billion in troubled mortgages. The package, H.R. 3221, passed by a 266-154 vote that included support from some Republicans and includes numerous bills that have been debated on Capitol [...]