Policymakers should make a number of changes to regulations to entice investors to buy new non-agency mortgage-backed securities, according to officials at Pacific Investment Management Company. PIMCO was a major investor in pre-crisis non-agency MBS. “Unlike the complexities of government-sponsored enterprise reform, a few minor, straightforward changes – some of which can be done through regulation, not legislation – can be made to bring private capital back to the market ...

John Shrewsberry, CFO of Wells Fargo, told the bank’s investors last week that Wells is taking some steps to boost mortgage originations, including an emphasis on interest-only loans. “We are making some modest changes to generate new loan originations, including offering interest-only jumbo mortgage loans to high quality borrowers ...,” Shrewsberry said during Wells’ earnings call. However, when asked for further details, Tom Goyda, a spokesperson for Wells, downplayed ...

Only fixed-rate mortgages were included in prime non-agency mortgage-backed securities issued in the second quarter of 2017, according to an analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. It was the third quarterly interval since the first quarter of 2016 that adjustable-rate mortgages and loans with interest-only features were excluded from prime/jumbo MBS. And in the first quarter of 2017, ARMs accounted for less than 1.0 percent of total prime non-agency ... [Includes two data charts]

Loans from more than 100 lenders are in the latest jumbo mortgage-backed security from Redwood Trust but most of the lenders contributed such a small volume of loans to the issuance that they weren’t identified by rating services. Only two lenders have consistently provided more than 5.0 percent of the dollar volume in jumbo MBS Redwood has issued this year: First Republic Bank and Quicken Loans. Loans from First Republic account for 19.6 percent of the $485.25 million ...

A new nonprime mortgage-backed security from Invictus Capital Partners varies in some ways from the deal the firm issued in February. Invictus is set to issue the $241.00 million Verus Securitization Trust 2017-2. The deal the firm issued in the first quarter – the first MBS from Invictus – was for $145.02 million. The purchase-mortgage share in the new deal is down sharply compared with the previous MBS from Invictus, at 46.0 percent compared with 68.3 percent. The cash-out refinance ...

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau needs to do more to address problems with the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure rule, according to participants in the non-agency market. The final rule issued this month by the CFPB was seen as helpful but insufficient. The final rule from the CFPB clarified some issues and formalized some guidance. The Structured Finance Industry Group said uncertainty regarding TRID violations persists. “SFIG applauds the efforts of the CFPB to ...

The $210.45 million mortgage-backed security Angel Oak Capital Advisors issued earlier this month had the tightest execution of any MBS backed by non-qualified mortgages, according to Sreeni Prabhu, Angel Oak’s co-CEO and CIO. “We believe investors like Angel Oak’s vertically integrated issuer model,” Prabhu said. “This is unique in the marketplace and offers them a ‘pure play’ exposure to Angel Oak’s origination and underwriting capabilities.” ... [Includes six briefs]

The VA home loan guaranty program continued to grow faster than the FHA program during the second quarter of 2017, according to a new analysis and servicer ranking by Inside FHA/VA Lending. At the end of June, Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities pools included $548.04 billion of VA loans, a 3.3 percent increase over the previous quarter. Compared to a year ago, the volume of VA loans was up a hefty 15.6 percent. The $1.055 trillion of FHA loans in outstanding Ginnie MBS was still nearly twice the volume of VA loans. But the FHA total was up a more subdued 1.8 percent from March and by 5.4 percent from a year ago. One reason the VA market grows somewhat faster than the FHA is that it loses fewer loans to default. For starters, the VA delinquency rate is lower – 3.03 percent in the second quarter of 2017 vs. 5.52 percent for FHA. Over the past three and a half years, the ... [ Charts]

The House Appropriations Committee this week approved a FY 2018 spending bill for the Department of Housing and Urban Development with a $135 million allocation for information technology upgrades in lieu of a proposed lender fee. The set-aside also covers quality control and risk management improvements as well as other administrative costs. The recommended funding is $5 million more than the FY 2017 enacted level for administrative contract expenses and $25 million below the budget request. Approved by a vote of 31 to 20, the bill provides HUD with $38.3 billion in discretionary spending for FY 2018, down $487 million from the current level. The House bill authorizes $400 billion for loan guarantees under the FHA Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund, including the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage program, and $500 billion for Ginnie Mae. Ginnie will also receive $25.4 million for agency staffing, which is ...

An internal watchdog audit alleges that the Department of Housing and Urban Development has been auctioning distressed notes to investors with no formal guidance or procedures in place. In a recent audit report, the HUD Office of the Inspector General said the department did not conduct rulemaking or develop standards for its single-family note sales program. The IG said it performed the audit due to the large amount of FHA claims paid on note sales as well as public concerns over the creation and administration of the program. In addition, the IG has never audited the program. In 2002, HUD referred to the initial note sales program as the Accelerated Claims Disposition Demonstration Program. The department later renamed it the Loan Sales Program, and subsequently to its current name: Distressed Asset Stabilization Program. DASP accepts assignment of eligible, defaulted single-family mortgage loans in ...