Non-cash elements of gain on sale of loans held for sale
Our gains on loans held for sale include both cash and non-cash elements. We recognize a significant portion of our gains on loans held for sale when we make commitments to purchase or fund mortgage loans. We recognize this gain in the form of interest rate lock commitments (“IRLCs”). We adjust our initial gain amount as the loan purchase or origination process progresses until the loan is either funded or cancelled.
We also receive non-cash proceeds on sale that include our estimate of the fair value of MSRs and we incur mortgage servicing liabilities (which represent the fair value of the costs we expect to incur in excess of the fees we receive for EBO loans we have resold to third party investors) and for the fair value of our estimate of the losses we expect to incur relating to the representations and warranties we provide in our loan sale transactions.
The MSRs, MSLs, and liabilities for representations and warranties we recognize represent our estimate of the fair value of future benefits and costs we will realize for years in the future. These estimates represented approximately 397% and 345% of our gains on sales of loans held for sale at fair value for the quarter and six months ended June 30, 2023, respectively, as compared to 179% and 195% for the same periods in 2022. These estimates change as circumstances change and changes in these estimates are recognized in income in subsequent periods. Subsequent changes in the fair value of our MSRs significantly affect our results of operations.
Interest Rate Lock Commitments, Mortgage Servicing Rights and Mortgage Servicing Liabilities
The methods and key inputs we use to measure and update our measurements of IRLCs, MSRs and MSLs are detailed in Note 6 – Fair Value – Valuation Techniques and Inputs to the consolidated financial statements included in this Quarterly Report.
Representations and Warranties
Our agreements with the purchasers and insurers of our loans include representations and warranties related to the loans. The representations and warranties require adherence to purchaser and insurer origination and underwriting guidelines, including but not limited to the validity of the lien securing the loan, property eligibility, borrower credit, income and asset requirements, and compliance with applicable federal, state and local law.
In the event of a breach of our representations and warranties, we may be required to either repurchase the loans with the identified defects or indemnify the purchaser or insurer. In such cases, we bear any subsequent credit losses on the loans. Our credit losses may be reduced by any recourse we have to correspondent originators that sold such loans to us and breached similar or other representations and warranties. In such event, we have the right to seek a recovery of related repurchase losses from that correspondent seller.
Our representations and warranties are generally not subject to stated limits of exposure. However, we believe that the current unpaid principal balance (“UPB”) of loans sold by us and subject to representation and warranty liability to date represents our maximum representations and warranties exposure.
The level of the liability for losses under representations and warranties is difficult to estimate and requires considerable judgment. The level of loan repurchase losses is dependent on economic factors, purchaser or insurer loss mitigation strategies, and other external conditions that may change over the lives of the underlying loans. Our estimate of the liability for representations and warranties is developed by our credit administration staff and approved by our senior management credit committee which includes senior management in our loan production, loan servicing and credit risk management areas.
The method we use to estimate our losses on representations and warranties is a function of our estimate of future defaults, loan repurchase rates, the severity of loss in the event of default, if applicable, and the probability of reimbursement by the correspondent loan seller. We establish a liability at our estimate of its fair value at the time loans are sold and review our liability estimate on a periodic basis.