Goyda declined to provide further details on where Wells Fargo has eased underwriting restrictions.

JPMorgan removed a minimum 640 credit score requirement for the FHA’s streamlined refinancing program in May, enabling more borrowers to get new home loans at lower interest rates, according to spokeswoman Amy Bonitatibus.

Banks are trying to lure more borrowers as mortgage applications plunged last week to a five-year low. Refinancing dropped more than 20 percent, the lowest since June 2009. The industry benefitted from record profit margins last year, when refinancing accounted for 76 percent of last year’s $1.75 trillion in loan originations.

JPMorgan Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon told investors in July that rising interest rates could trigger a “dramatic reduction” in the bank’s mortgage profits after mortgage fees and related revenue at the bank dropped 20 percent to $1.82 billion in the second quarter, compared with $2.27 billion a year earlier.

Eliminating Jobs

An increase in lending for home purchases won’t be enough to replace a drop in refinancings, JPMorgan Chief Financial Officer Marianne Lake said in a presentation at an investor conference this week. The bank’s pretax-profit margins and income on mortgage lending will be “slightly negative” in the third and fourth quarters as the firm takes time to adjust its fixed costs. The firm is eliminating as many as 19,000 jobs in its mortgage and community-banking divisions through 2014 as Dimon trims expenses, JPMorgan said in February.

“We continuously review our lending standards to help families buy homes they can afford over the long term,” Bonitatibus said. “We have responded to improvements in the housing market by removing some additional requirements we put in place in hard-hit markets during the crisis.”

Bank of America has been easing underwriting standards in markets it designated as “soft” in certain parts of the country as the housing market improves, said Kris Yamamoto, a company spokeswoman.

Loosened Credit

Since Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke indicated the central bank may slow its purchases of government and mortgage bonds, the average rate on 30-year home loans has risen more than 1.2 percentage points after hitting a low of 3.35 percent in May, according to Freddie Mac data.