“Put Wells Fargo in charge.”

More bank stress tests coming. Here’s why U.S. banks are pushing back on how tests work.

The big four banks combined to write $175.4 billion in new mortgages during the three months ended Sept. 30. That is 24% lower than what these lenders wrote a year earlier. BofA’s drop noted below is a big contributor to the overall drop. Wells Fargo originated $89 billion in new mortgages, down 12% from the [...]

The U.S. Treasury Department is exploring a plan that could help 1 million or more homeowners avoid foreclosure. It applies to non-agency (in securities not issued by government agencies) mortgages, and is an attempt to promote modifications of delinquent or defaulted home loans, including write-downs of principal, by bringing fresh private capital into the market. [...]

Comparing performance of Bank of America vs. Wells Fargo is interesting study, and is much more than an $8.8 billion loss compared to a $3.95 billion gain. Bank of America “trimmed roughly 151,000 loans from its portfolio of delinquent and discontinued mortgages in the second quarter through foreclosure or short sales. However, there are still [...]

Here are some tidbits for the day and some comments on MBS markets this past week: -The cost of placing ads on Facebook is rising rapidly: the “cost per click” of an ad placed on Facebook has increased by 74% over last year. -Reader’s Digest Association, the 90-year-old publishing and marketing company that emerged from [...]

When it comes to powerful women, how does the FDIC’s Sheila Bair—our nation’s top bank regulator—stack up against Lady Gaga or Katie Couric? When it comes to powerful banks, how do they rank for first quarter production? The big four banks originated a combined $186 billion in home loans, down 33% from $281 billion home [...]

Jumbo mortgage volume is very dependent on location. So what are borrowers in high cost areas thinking when it comes to obtaining a jumbo loan? Linda Stern of Reuters reminds us that conforming loan limit caps for high cost areas will be reduced from $729,750 to $625,500 effective October 1, and says that some borrowers [...]

Today links include more consumer-focused interpretations of the Fed’s new risk retention rules for mortgage securitization. If you only read one link today, read Kid Dynamite on the topic. -Mansion Linked To ‘The Great Gatsby’ Demolished (Reuters via tip from DB!) -Onion or Reuters: Protecting Borrowers From Lenders (Kid Dynamite) -Leader of Big Mortgage Lender [...]

Lee Farkas, the former chairman of Taylor, Bean and Whitaker Mortgage Corp., was found guilty on all 14 charges stemming from a seven-year, multibillion-dollar fraud scheme that led to the collapse of his firm and Colonial Bank. Even the photo can make you cringe. At this point Mr. Farkas is probably not interested that Cantor [...]