New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced this week that he plans to file lawsuits against Bank of America and Wells Fargo for failing to comply with servicing standards included in the $25 billion national servicing settlement. Other states appear likely to join the action, though the litigation might not have much of an impact on the servicers, according to industry analysts. “My office has received a significant number of complaints regarding the flagrant violations by Bank of America and Wells Fargo of the loan modification timeline requirements contained in [the settlement],” Schneiderman said in a letter to the committee monitoring the settlement. BofA and Wells, along with Ally Financial, Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase, have had to comply...
The three percent points-and-fees cap for qualified mortgages under the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s ability-to-repay rule is likely to push the private mortgage insurance industry away from products that emphasize upfront premiums and towards products built on monthly premiums. As the rule stands now, borrower-paid, non-refundable upfront MI premiums would be included in the points-and-fee calculation, but borrower-paid monthly MI premiums would not. There are two caveats: lenders may also exclude...
Two months ago, if you asked a broker of mortgage servicing rights how the market was doing, he would have said “decent.” But today, it’s a different story with the words “great” and “hot” getting muttered frequently. Over the past 60 days, several large flow and bulk MSR deals have been sent out for bid, many of which have been non-legacy offerings. Sellers are more willing to part with new MSR packages, product that is deemed to be of the highest quality with little chance of prepaying thanks to the ultra-low interest rates of today. And just how hot is the market? Interactive Mortgage Advisors, Denver, is wrapping up...
Raising capital for privately held nonbank lenders that want to grow their holdings of residential mortgage servicing rights – or get into the market – has been mostly a dormant business since the housing bust of 2008, but Steadfast Capital hopes to change all that. And the newly launched company isn’t just raising capital through equity and structured debt offerings – it plans to invest alongside the lenders it’s working for. “We have a willingness to invest in every deal,” said Steadfast president, CEO and founder David Fleig. “It’s important to us.” Presently, Steadfast is talking...
The mortgage industry has a window of opportunity to improve the secondary market without having to wait years for Congress to deal with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to the leadership of the Mortgage Bankers Association, which this week announced a three-prong agenda that doesn’t depend on new legislation. The conservatorships of the two government-sponsored enterprises, which will be five years old in October, were intended to be a short “time out,” and there is still no endgame in sight or any plan for transition, said MBA President and CEO David Stevens, during the group’s secondary market conference in New York this week. Stevens outlined...
Most mortgage industry observers expect the Federal Housing Finance Agency to raise Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guaranty fees by about 20 basis points this year, but many are convinced that the impact on market practices may be bigger than the magnetic effect on private capital. The FHFA has said it wants to raise g-fees to the point that private capital comes into the market, according to Paul Mullins, a senior vice president and interim head of single-family at Freddie Mac. During remarks at the secondary market conference sponsored by the Mortgage Bankers Association this week, he said “The odds are reasonably good you will see higher guaranty fees.” Already around 50 bps and twice their historic level, the fees charged...
Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and their government overseer are considering adding new features to the common securitization platform in addition to the major components in the initial design, according to officials speaking at the Mortgage Bankers Association Secondary Market Conference in New York this week. A potential addition to the project would include “life flow data” about the mortgage transaction, said Manoj Singh, associate director in the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Office of Strategic Initiatives. The common securitization platform, or CSP, has been focused on the securitization function, but feedback from the industry has raised the prospect of expanding it to house all the data points that could be needed over the life of the loan, including foreclosure disposition, if it comes to that. Once the government-sponsored enterprises start...
Fannie Mae is set to "give back" $50.6 billion to the U.S. Treasury by June 30, thanks to stellar earnings and accounting treatment of deferred tax assets.
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