Loan modification tactics varied based on whether a mortgage was serviced for Fannie/Freddie or was non-agency in nature.

Few lenders are counting on a reduction in the current “ongoing” GSE fee, which increased from 13 basis points in 2009 to 40 bps in 2013.

The selling depository – which MVSG did not name – prefers to retain servicing, but will consider an outright sale.

Some banks have already been doing loan closings themselves...

So, how come Freddie has conducted a handful of NPL sales thus far and Fannie Mae has not?

It’s not just structural issues that are keeping investors away from jumbo MBS; they are finding better value in other non-traditional mortgage securities products, including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac risk-share transactions and deals backed by seasoned loans. During the fourth quarter of 2014, Javelin Mortgage Investment sold all of its holdings of prime, fixed, senior bonds from new-issue jumbo MBS. The real estate investment trust sold a total of ...

The refinance program for performing, underwater Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgages staggered to a five-year low during 2014, but government officials are thinking about keeping it on life support for another year. The Home Affordable Refinance Program is slated to expire at the end of 2015. Although the Federal Housing Finance Agency has barnstormed around the country trying to drum up business, activity in the program has fallen steadily since ... [Includes two data charts]

Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee have introduced legislation that would provide private and government risk-share coverage to all mortgages, create a single MBS and decommission Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Introduced by Reps. Jim Himes, D-CT, John Delaney, D-MD, and John Carney, D-DE, the bill would require Ginnie Mae to run an MBS program that combines private capital with government re-insurance in lieu of the current federal ...

Ocwen Financial pushed back this week against claims from large investors that have worked to remove the nonbank as servicer on 119 non-agency MBS. “By all indications, the holders employed unsupportable assumptions and manipulated their analysis to advance their agenda,” Timothy Hayes, an executive vice president and general counsel at Ocwen, wrote in a letter to the trustees of the MBS in question. The letter was a response to claims made ...

In 2014, Freddie Mac securitized $6.983 billion of re-performing mortgages, double what it did the year prior, and a sign that this niche market is heating up. As for Fannie Mae’s participation in “re-performers,” that’s a different matter entirely. The government-sponsored enterprise has yet to stick its toe in the water, though a spokesman for the company told Inside MBS & ABS that “it’s something we continue to evaluate.” But just how hot might the sector get ...