Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are expected to pay some $5.6 billion to taxpayers based on “normal” second-quarter earnings that were not bloated by big-ticket tax breaks or large litigation settlements, the two government-sponsored enterprises announced this week. Once the two GSEs have made the latest Treasury payment in September, Fannie and Freddie will have returned about $218 billion to taxpayers for the approximately $188 billion in financial support the two firms received after being placed in government conservatorship in September 2008. Under the revised conservatorship agreement announced two years ago this month by the Federal Housing Finance Agency and the Treasury Department, any GSE net worth exceeding $3.0 billion is impounded...

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae combined to produce $85.33 billion of single-family MBS in July, up 11.6 percent from the previous month, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS market analysis and ranking. July was the fourth straight monthly increase in agency MBS issuance after the market hit a 14-year low in March of this year. On a year-to-date basis, production was off 54.3 percent from the first seven months of 2013, and it will take a significant increase in issuance over the next five months for the market to hit the $1 trillion mark by the end of this year. All three agencies posted...[Includes two data charts]

Ellie Mae will pay $30.0 million for AllRegs.

Redwood looks to build on the success it had including non-QMs in a jumbo MBS.

Essent has another quarterly profit while National MI took a loss.

The DOJ took issue with Fifth Third for asking potential borrowers with disability income to obtain a letter from their doctor to document the income.

The Structured Finance Industry Group this week proposed the first in a planned long line of standards aimed at increasing transparency for non-agency MBS investors and boosting new issuance. The first edition in the SFIG’s series of “green papers” covers certain representations and warranties, triggers for repurchase, due diligence and communication with investors. Richard Johns, SFIG’s executive director, said about 200 individuals from about 50 organizations involved in the non-agency MBS market have participated in Project RMBS 3.0. “The goal here is...

Mortgage origination volume was up in all three major production channels during the second quarter of 2014, with a slight shift in market share toward the retail channel as well as to brokers, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis and ranking.

Five years after the first round of loan modifications began in April 2009 under the Treasury Department’s Home Affordable Modification Program, 32,111 loans are scheduled for their first interest rate resets this October. The impact of this first wave is expected to be limited. But in each of the next successive four years, HAMP resets will reach into six-figure territory, and by the time the smoke clears, upwards of 800,000 loans will face multiple interest rate tests. “The HAMP resets will be...

The Consumer Financial Potection Bureau has been asked to make certain clarifications to the mortgage servicing rules that took effect early this year amid growing industry concern over the high cost of compliance. In a recent letter to the bureau, the American Bankers Association asked the agency to clarify the application of the “120-day rule,” which prohibits servicers from sending notice or filing for foreclosure unless the borrower is 120 days or more behind on the mortgage payment; requirement for periodic statements for charge-offs; and publication of an interim final rule providing bankrupt borrowers limited exemptions from the servicing rules. Complying with the servicing rules is...