The Lede

CNBC Squawk Box, Apr. 12, 2019Dan Gilbert, founder and chairman of Quicken Loans, and Jay Farner, CEO of Quicken Loans, discuss the state of the mortgage sector as home buyers prepare for spring.

MarketWatch, Apr. 12, 2019--Andrea RiquierGeneral Electric will pay a civil penalty of $1.5 billion over subprime mortgage loans, the Department of Justice said Friday. WMC Mortgage, a GE subsidiary, and GE itself "misrepresented the quality" of the loans made by WMC, as well as the quality controls of GE's mortgage bonds, the DOJ said in a filing.

National Mortgage News, Apr. 12, 2019--Bonnie Sinnock (subscription)The home-loan origination total was $33 billion at Wells and $15 billion at JPMorgan Chase. While this marked a 13% consecutive-quarter drop for both companies, it compares favorably to consecutive-quarter declines of almost 19% at Wells and more than 25% at JPMorgan Chase a year ago.

American Banker, Apr. 12, 2019--Neil Haggerty (subscription)Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., have introduced the Respect the Caps Act, which would explicitly bar Fannie and Freddie from transferring or delegating any duty or responsibility to the chief executive officer to any other position. It would also allow for the Federal Housing Finance Agency director's removal if it approves compensation greater than the cap of $600,000 a year, which was signed into law in 2015.

USA Today, Apr. 14, 2019--Paul Davidson, Michael CollinsPresident Donald Trump's selections for the Federal Reserve board, conservative pundit Stephen Moore and former pizza chain executive Herman Cain, have created a media firestorm. Cain, a Republican who ran for president in 2012, may be set to withdraw from consideration in the face of opposition from Senate Republicans, according to an ABC News report Friday, though Moore was still in the running.

HousingWire, Apr. 12, 2019--Ben LaneHensarling, a Republican from Texas, began serving in Congress in 2003, and assumed the influential role of chairman of the House Financial Services Committee in 2013. Hensarling retired from Congress earlier this year after announcing in 2017 that he would not seek re-election in 2018. Now, after spending years pushing for reduced regulation over financial services providers, Hensarling is joining UBS, one of those companies.

American Banker, Apr. 14, 2019--Kate Berry (subscription)Debt collectors and trade groups that have met with CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger said the bureau will look at developing regulatory policy for modern communication practices including text messaging and emails that were not invented when the Federal Debt Collection Practices Act went into effect.

UExpress, Apr. 12, 2019--Lew SichelmanIt's not that remodelers are dishonest, although some certainly are. But they often leave out key costs -- sometimes to lowball their estimates so they can win the job, sometimes because they simply forget. Either way, it will end up costing you more.