Credit Suisse issued its latest jumbo mortgage-backed security at the end of August, a $404.62 million deal with originations from a wide range of lenders. CSMC Trust 2014-WIN1 was also structured in a more complex manner than most of the jumbo MBS issued in recent years. More than 30 lenders contributed to the deal, led by New Penn Financial with a 23.1 percent share, EverBank Financial (20.3 percent) and Quicken Loans (19.8 percent). The deal included two pools of fixed-rate loans. The pool backed primarily by 30-year mortgages accounted for 80.8 percent and a pool of 15-year mortgages made up the rest.

Officials at the Securities and Exchange Commission see the final rule on disclosures recently issued by the federal regulator as bringing major changes to the non-agency mortgage-backed security market. However, whether issuers will offer non-agency MBS subject to the disclosure requirements is largely in the hands of investors that have been willing to buy securities not subject to the SEC’s standards. Beginning in 2017, issuers of publically registered non-agency MBS will have to disclose 270 data points, mostly at loan level. The disclosure requirements in the SEC’s Reg AB2 rule do not apply to 144A offerings, although some observers expect the SEC eventually to extend them to private placements.

The few real estate investment trusts that currently have access to advances from the Federal Home Loan Banks would lose their ability to tap the attractive funding source under a proposal last week from the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The FHFA said the proposed rule is necessary because REITs with captive insurance companies pose risks to the FHLBank system. “FHFA is taking these actions to address supervisory concerns about certain institutions that are ineligible for FHLBank membership, but that are using captive insurers as vehicles through which they can obtain FHLBank advances to fund their business operations,” the federal regulator said.

A wide range of mortgage industry participants cautioned the Federal Housing Finance Agency that increasing the guaranty fees charged by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac won’t necessarily prompt an increase in non-agency activity. In June, the FHFA solicited public input about what g-fee level would prompt investors in non-agency mortgage-backed securities to find it profitable to enter the market or prompt banks to hold conforming-balance mortgages in portfolio. “Policymakers should not assume that increases in g-fees alone will lead to a significant increase in private-label securities issuance,” said the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, which stressed that a number of factors beyond the pricing of agency mortgages are limiting non-agency activity.

Servicer performance in the Home Affordable Modification Program is at one of the lowest levels in the five-year history of the loss mitigation program, according to the Treasury Department and the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Last week, the Treasury revealed that four of the seven largest servicers participating in the non-agency portion of HAMP need at least moderate improvement. CitiMortgage was ranked the lowest among the large servicers and will have its HAMP incentive payments withheld by the Treasury until the servicer’s performance improves.

S. 1217, the Housing Finance Reform and Taxpayer Protection Act of 2014, would decrease federal deficits by a total of $58 billion from 2015 to 2024, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs approved the legislation to reform the government-sponsored enterprises earlier this year but the full Senate has yet to consider the bill and there is little support for the legislation in the House.

Obama will meet with top banking executives and industry trade groups on Sept. 17 to explore potential solutions to lender overlays and other problems that hinder first-time homebuyers and other qualified borrowers from obtaining an FHA or conventional mortgage. The meeting is expected to touch on key lender issues, including credit overlays, government enforcement actions, regulatory burden and risk-based versus FHA pricing. Lenders say they are willing to originate single-family mortgages to qualified borrowers and first-time homebuyers but they feel the post-crisis environment has turned hostile against them. Repurchases and indemnifications have dampened their willingness to lend to moderate- and lower-income borrowers, they admit. Regardless of policy changes designed to increase lending in the lower credit score range (620 to 679), FHA enforcement actions to ...

The FHA Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund account balances fell by $0.5 billion during the second quarter of 2014 to $45.3 billion due to higher claim payments and property expenses. Observers, nonetheless, remain optimistic the fund will return to full stability in 2015 with no further change in the mortgage insurance premium charged to borrowers. The MMIF’s total balances peaked at $48.4 billion in the third quarter of 2013 and then slipped gradually over the last three quarters, according to data in the FHA’s latest report to Congress regarding the financial health of the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund. Total revenues from premium collections, property sale, and note sale proceeds were $4.3 billion, while $5.1 billion was paid to cover claims and property expenses in the second quarter. This resulted in a negative$821 million cash flow in the quarter, the smallest outflow since ...

The average FHA credit score in the second quarter of 2014 continued to decline from the record highs of 2011, but remains well above the levels preceding the mortgage and credit crisis, according to FHA’s latest report to Congress on the state of the agency’s Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund. The FHA’s second-quarter average credit score of 680 was 3 points below the previous quarter’s score and 13 points below the score during the same period last year. The report’s data suggest that FHA has accomplished its goal of shifting its market share to the 620-679 credit score bucket consistent with its target market while ceding its share of loans with scores exceeding 720 to the private MI sector. The last time borrowers’ average credit score hit 680 was in the second quarter of 2009. FHA officials said they are working to have 75 percent of the FHA lending in the ...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is now qualifying investors for its sixth auction of non-performing loans (NPLs) amid nationwide protests calling for reform of HUD’s distressed note sale program. Single-Family Loan Sale SFLS 2014-2 includes 15,232 single-family, non-performing mortgages with a total unpaid principal of $2.3 billion. The sale consists of 10 loan pools ranging from $97 million to $825 million with collateral dispersed across the country, according to loan sale advisor DebtX. It is scheduled to bid on Sept. 30. On June 11, HUD sold a $4.8 billion portfolio of NPLs, the first of a two-part sale. The national offering consisted of approximately 23,200 loans divided into 16 pools ranging from $93 million to $1 billion. The loans are backed by properties across the ...