Congress looks poised to enact its second piece of legislation involving the two government-sponsored enterprises that have been in conservatorship for over seven years. Lawmakers included the “Jumpstart GSE Reform Act” in a fiscal 2016 omnibus spending bill that is expected to be approved late this week. The first piece of GSE legislation enacted by Congress affected just two people, rolling back pay raises awarded to the CEOs of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac early in 2015. The “Jumpstart” language is more daring by barring the Treasury Department from doing something it has no intention of doing: selling its preferred stock in the GSEs without Congressional approval. The original Jumpstart legislation, sponsored by Sens. Bob Corker, R-TN, Mark Warner, D-VA, and Elizabeth Warren, D-MA, also would have blocked...

The second month of operations under the new integrated disclosure rule showed some divergence in closing trends for home-purchase mortgage financing compared with all-cash transactions. In November, there was an increase in the share of purchase mortgages that missed their scheduled closing dates and a slight increase in closing times compared with October, according to the latest Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey. Some real estate agents responding to the survey pointed...

Seven years to the day after the Federal Reserve began its so-called ZIRP – or zero interest rate policy – the Fed’s Open Market Committee, as widely expected, finally voted this week to begin raising interest rates, opting for a modest 25 basis point rise in the federal funds rate. “This action marks the end of an extraordinary seven-year period during which the federal funds rate was held near zero to support the recovery of the economy from the worst financial crisis and recession since the Great Depression,” said Fed chief Janet Yellen. “It also recognizes the considerable progress that has been made toward restoring jobs, raising incomes and easing the economic hardship of millions of Americans. And it reflects the committee’s confidence that the economy will continue to strengthen.” However, the Fed also implied...

Don’t believe press accounts that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s integrated disclosure rule isn’t causing headaches throughout the mortgage lending industry, top industry representatives said this week. The good news for lenders is: It’s not just your shop that is having problems. Experts detailed the ongoing industry compliance problems with the CFPB’s Truth in Lending Act/Real Estate Settlement Procedures Integrated Disclosure Act rule – the so-called TRID rule – during a webinar this week sponsored by Inside Mortgage Finance. “Surely, the rule is...

The Federal Housing Finance Agency will push Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to assess front-end risk-sharing strategies in 2016, according to the agency’s game plan for the two government-sponsored enterprises released late this week. At this point, most of the work appears to be exploratory. The FHFA itself will issue a formal “request for input” from the industry, and the GSEs are expected “to conduct an analysis and assessment of front-end credit risk transfer.” The 2016 “scorecard” pushes...

Among other things, the language grants the CFPB greater flexibility to treat a balloon loan as a “qualified mortgage” if it was extended by a community bank or...

The IMF poll also found that some in the industry believe the MMIF minimum capital ratio should be raised to 4 percent...

One trade group rep noted that “anyone telling you” the TRID transition process “is somewhat smooth, is full of it.”

The CHLA is renewing its call for Treasury and the FHFA to amend the preferred stock purchase agreements once again, allowing the GSEs to build capital...

“My lenders are keenly aware of meeting their FHA responsibilities,” Corso said in an interview with Inside Mortgage Finance…