MBA chief David Stevens told Inside The GSEs that given the recent growth in the nonbank servicing sector, it’s appropriate for regulatory authorities to ensure these institutions are effectively supervised.
In their recent exchange of letters, Sen. Corker articulated a handful of serious concerns with the TRID rule, while Cordray reiterated the ways the bureau has tried to help the industry…
This week, a judge removed the protective order on seven documents related to the U.S. Treasury’s sweep of GSE profits, revealing what shareholders and industry groups have been arguing for years: that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were in a position to post profits on a sustained basis. In a whirlwind of court activity over the past month involving GSE shareholders, Court of Federal Claims Judge Margaret Sweeney decided on April 12 to release certain documents that appellants in Fairholme Funds, Inc. et. al. v. United States and Perry Capital v. Lew, moved to be made public. This is ahead of the D.C. Circuit schedule oral argument for the Perry case on April 15 and it intensified talks of government corruption and false claims of protecting taxpayers via the sweep.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage-backed securities remained the preferred investment choice of the 11 Federal Home Loan Banks during the fourth quarter of 2015 and for the year, according to a new ranking by Inside The GSEs based on data from the Federal Housing Finance Agency. There was a slight 0.9 percent quarterly decline, but a generous 34.7 percent increase from a year earlier. GSE MBS accounted for 77.9 percent of combined MBS portfolios. The FHFA data does not separately break out Fannie and Freddie volume or share.Meanwhile, Ginnie Mae investments accounted for 11.7 percent and non-agency investments were 10.4 percent.
Examiners did not meet the requirements for making sure that one of the GSEs corrects serious deficiencies, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Office of Inspector General. In a recent report, the OIG said that there were certain instances where FHFA’s guidance “fell short.” The report noted that when the OIG reviewed whether examiners followed FHFA policy regarding an issue opened by a GSE in 2013, 30 months later the Matter Requiring Attention (MRA) remained unresolved. Among the shortcomings identified were the examiner’s acceptance of the GSE’s proposed remediation plan despite the fact it failed to address all of the issues in the division of enterprise regulation and not preparing an internal procedures plan to...
The battle over where to hold court continues with GSE shareholders challenging the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s request to transfer and consolidate the cases. Since the FHFA’s March filing to transfer lawsuits initiated by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shareholders to a new court, a number of plaintiffs have filed motions opposing the transfer, arguing that the cases are substantially different from one another. But now, in response to that challenge, lawyers for the FHFA filed a court document on April 13 that said the cases all involve plaintiffs with the same interests asserting the same claims arising out of the same transactions against the same defendants.
Freddie Mac wants to help more borrowers sustain homeownership through counseling. Last week, the GSE invested in a modernized platform to streamline the process and partnered with Hope Loan Port, a nonprofit aimed at sustaining homeownership through its technology solutions. The new platform, available now, will automate several key processes, including collecting, analyzing and reporting client data, assessing client readiness to buy a home, and referring clients who are ready for successful homeownership to lenders, seamlessly. A dedicated software-as-a-service (SaaS) based platform highlights the modernization initiative and will provide the participating Borrower Help Centers with the tools to work with consumers, connect with lenders and share sensitive data securely.
With Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac only checking that the new TRID forms are being used on its loans, a lack of due diligence for completely complying with TRID rules exposes the GSEs’ credit-risk transfers to some incremental losses, according to Moody’s Investors Service.This is especially true for CRTs with an “actual loss” structure, said Moody’s. The rating service added that it will be a credit negative for the transactions since there’s no transparency in how many loans in future GSE-sponsored CRT transactions will contain material TRID violations. In October, the GSEs issued guidance noting that they expect seller/servicers to make good faith efforts to comply with the TRID rule.
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