The Lede

National Mortgage News, Apr. 11, 2016--Berry, Kate The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments Tuesday about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's structure, in a case that has national implications. Even though a ruling isn't expected until the end of the year, legal experts say there are four major legal issues involved.

Bloomberg, Apr. 11, 2016--Schoenberg, Tom  Goldman Sachs Group Inc. will pay $5.1 billion to settle a U.S. probe into its handling of mortgage-backed securities involving allegations that loans weren't properly vetted before being sold to investors as high-quality bonds.

CNBC, Apr. 11, 2016--Olick, Diana When the Federal Reserve raised its interest rates late last year, most mortgage rate prognosticators saw it as a sure sign that home-loan rates would finally rise meaningfully. In fact, just the opposite has happened.

MarketWatch, Apr. 11, 2016--Riquier, Andrea As government entities like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have struggled with the legacies of the housing bust, they've sold billions of dollars' of delinquent notes to big institutional investors, who resell them in turn.

Housing Wire, Apr. 11, 2016--Boggs, Dennis   After several years of focusing almost exclusively on compliance, it was good to see that "customer experience" was back on the agenda at the Mortgage Bankers Association National Technology in Mortgage Banking Conference & Expo in Los Angeles last week. 

Chicago Tribune, Apr. 11, 2016--Sichelman, Lew David Stevens, a former federal housing official who now leads the trade group Mortgage Bankers Association, said household formations will increase to about 1.6 million a year between 2015 and 2024, compared with the increase of 1.2 million a year between 2010 and 2014.

World Property Journal, Apr. 11, 2016 The Mortgage Bankers Association reported mortgage credit availability decreased slightly in March.

Bloomberg, Apr. 11, 2016--Tan, Gillian Annaly Capital Management is buying Hatteras Financial, a smaller REIT that buys mortgage debt, in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $1.5 billion.

Wall Street Journal, Apr. 11, 2016--Light, Joe Low mortgage rates will no doubt encourage more homeowners to refinance, giving a boon to mortgage lenders facing an uncertain housing market. But there are several reasons to doubt an upcoming refinance boomlet could turn into a full-fledged boom.

National Mortgage News, Apr. 11, 2016--Peters, Andy PHH Corp. in Mount Laurel, N.J., said its loan closing dollar volume will decrease this year, after Bank of America's Merrill Lynch announced plans to withdraw business from the firm.

National Mortgage News, Apr. 11, 2016--Berry, Kate Congress should consider giving direct authority over nonbank mortgage servicers to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, according to a report released Monday by the Government Accountability Office.