The Lede

The Federal Housing Finance Agency said loans refinanced through the Home Affordable Refinance Program in the second quarter fell only slightly from the first quarter.

HOPE NOW reported mortgage lenders and servicers completed 411,000 non-foreclosure workout plans for homeowners during the second quarter, reflecting a continued slowdown in workout activity.

The Mortgage Bankers Association, in a letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, reiterated its strong objections to the current structure of the Bureau's Consumer Complaint Database and offered several recommendations to improve the Database. 

Clear Capital, Reno, Nev., said nationwide, quarterly distressed saturation--the percentage of real estate owned and short sales to all sales--increased by 0.7 percent in August, from 15.4 percent to 16.1 percent. 

The Mortgage Bankers Association's Regulatory Compliance Conference takes place Sept. 20-22 at the Grand Hyatt Washington, D.C.

MBA Education presents its School of Mortgage Servicing Instructor-Guided Online Course Sept. 14-24.

The Mortgage Bankers Association's Risk Management, Quality Assurance & Fraud Prevention Forum takes place Sept. 9-11 at the Omni Hotel in Dallas.

The Mortgage Bankers Association issued a Call for Speakers for its National Mortgage Servicing Conference & Expo, taking place Feb. 16-19 at the Hyatt Regency in Orlando. Submission deadline is Friday, Sept. 4.

The Mortgage Bankers Association released a new TILA/RESPA Integrated Disclosure Resource Guide designed to assist lenders in complying with the TRID rule by Oct. 3.

New York Times, Aug. 28, 2015--Prevost, Lisa Home buyers who can't put at least 20 percent down usually have to carry private mortgage insurance, often an expensive proposition. One good thing about mortgage insurance, though, is that it doesn't last forever.

Wall Street Journal, Aug. 28, 2015--Fitzgerald, Patrick A federal judge has awarded the court-appointed trustee overseeing the liquidation of Thornburg Mortgage Inc. $45 million in his crisis-era lawsuit against RBC Capital Markets LLC, finding the bank shortchanged the mortgage lender when it seized and subsequently sold some of its assets.

Mortgage Servicing News, Aug. 28, 2015--Collomer, Nora Residential mortgage servicers are once again tapping the securitization market to fund advances to bondholders for the first time since April 2014.

Charlotte Observer, Aug. 30, 2015--Roberts, Deon Nine years after the start of the U.S. housing crisis, complaints about mortgage companies top the list of grievances North Carolina consumers are filing with a federal regulator.

National Mortgage Professional, Aug. 27, 2015--Hall, Phil Latest housing data finds a continued pattern of very mixed messages, with pending sales flattening out and rates dropping while sales of properties in-foreclosure declined to record lows.

HousingWire, Aug. 27, 2015--Swanson, Brena Marix Servicing, an affiliate of Walter Capital Opportunity, received approval from Freddie Mac to hold mortgage-servicing rights, marking the first of many more to come.

Wall Street Journal--Martin, Anya Typical borrowers make their mortgage payments monthly. Some, however, make bi-weekly payments to reduce the term of their loans. Could weekly mortgage payments speed the payoff even further? The answer in some cases is yes-but usually not much more than with bi-weekly plans.

HousingWire, Aug. 25, 2015--Swanson, Brena The government is once again expanding access to credit in an effort to capture a wider audience by making homeownership more available through Fannie Mae's latest update. 

The composite National Mortgage Risk Index for Agency purchase loans stood at 12.09% in July, down 0.2 percentage point from the average for the prior three months, but up 0.6 percentage point from a year earlier.

Speculation that a pro-investor settlement looms in the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac cases has driven shares sharply higher. This is wishful thinking.

More signs calling out banks that are being bad neighbors will be going up this week. State Assemblyman Michael Kearns says he started the "shame campaign" to expose lenders that foreclose on homes and let them rot for years. Kearns says banks are dragging down communities and leaving taxpayers holding the bag.