One industry observer saw the development as indicative of growing nervousness that the CFPB may be putting its Democrat allies on Capitol Hill in an awkward position...
Rushmore is licensed in all 50 states, Washington DC, and Puerto Rico. It has offices in Irvine, Dallas and San Juan, PR, where it services roughly $1 billion in assets...
The Securities and Exchange Commission dropped its civil fraud case against Thomas Lund, former executive vice president of Fannie Mae’s single-family business in the years leading up to conservatorship. The discontinuance of the case was announced this week by Lund’s attorney Michael Levy of Paul Hastings. “Thomas Lund has been vindicated,” he said. “After investigating for three years, litigating for another three years, deposing 50 witnesses and hiring four experts, the SEC concedes that it has not prevailed,” he said, adding that Lund will refrain, for 12 months, from signing things that he never signed in the past and has no intention of signing in the future. Lund will pay the agency $10,000. However, the SEC is classifying the payment as a “gift” to the...
The amount of collateral securing advances at the Federal Home Loan Banks increased by 12 percent, to $688 billion, at the end of 2014, according to a newly released report by the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The report provides details of the levels of collateral pledged to the FHLBanks securing advances. Listing was the most used form of collateral as of the end of 2014, and accounted for 49 percent of collateral pledged. This was followed by blanket pledges, a lien on all or specific categories of a member’s assets, which was 39 percent of collateral pledged. Both were up 2 percent from the previous years. The report noted that FHLBanks typically give members greater borrowing capacity when...
FHFA-OIG Indictment in Baltimore Mortgage Fraud Case. Two men were sentenced for providing false information to mortgage lenders to enable buyers to qualify for 18 home mortgage loans in Baltimore that they could not afford. Sixteen of the 18 loans went into default, resulting in foreclosures and losses of about $1.2 million to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and certain mortgage lenders. Fitch: Fannie’s Loan Losses Slightly Lower Than Freddie’s for Some Cohorts. In an analysis of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loan-level loss data, Fitch Ratings concluded that, while similar, there are differences between loss severities among loans with similar profiles. Fannie disclosed its loan-level loss data in late July to
Freddie Mac has offered $4.517 billion in non-performing loans to date and recently released plans to auction $327 million of deeply delinquent non-performing loans in its portfolio. The NPLs are marketed as two geographically diversified pools with bids due from qualified investors by Oct. 6, 2015. The sale is expected to settle in December 2015. JPMorgan Chase Bank is the servicer of the loans. The day after Freddie began marketing that transaction it announced that it sold roughly $1.2 billion of deeply delinquent agency mortgages serviced by Ocwen Loan Servicing, with servicing expected to be transferred after settlement. That sale was part of Freddie's Standard Pool Offerings and the loans have been delinquent for approximately three and a half years, on average.
As energy efficiency plays a growing role in real estate and mortgage credit, Freddie Mac decided to up the ante in its multifamily business and offer a $5,000 green rebate to borrowers. Qualified borrowers with at least 20 units who voluntarily provide an Energy Star score when submitting their loan documents, are eligible. Freddie said it hopes to encourage energy efficiency and affordability in apartment properties and strengthen the market for green investments. Freddie also said rental housing is home to many of the country’s lower-income households who are struggling with housing costs such as rent and utilities. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that the average commercial building wastes 30 percent of the energy it consumes, often resulting in higher operating costs.
Don’t expect much movement on legislation to reform the GSEs before the 2016 presidential election. Industry analysts suggest that divisions between Democrats and Republicans along with a housing finance system that is functioning well enough will continue to combine to prevent enactment of GSE reform for some time. At the ABS East conference sponsored by Information Management Network last week in Miami, a variety of industry participants seemed resigned to the fact that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will remain under the conservatorship of the Federal Housing Finance Agency for years to come. James Lockhart, vice chairman of WL Ross & Co. and a former director of the FHFA, said the enactment of GSE reform...(Chart, GSE Activity by State)
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