Federal Reserve

RIP yield spread premium — make way for mega bank mega profits 

If you search the Internet, congressional testimony, academia or the media for insight into how lenders price residential mortgages you’re likely to turn up a mountain of discussion of the yield spread premium paid to brokers by lenders. Maybe a little about the fact that mortgage rates reflect where mortgage securities trade in the bond market, but not much that explains loan pricing for retail customers. Nothing that explains what banks make if they originate the loan internally and don’t pay a broker or correspondent to do it for them.