Two Democrat Senators have re-introduced their refinance bill that would authorize a one-year extension of the Home Affordable Refinance Program while easing other qualifying criteria for HARP borrowers. Dubbed HARP 3.0 in some quarters, the Responsible Homeowner Refinancing Act of 2013, the bill by Sen. Robert Menendez, D-NJ, -- co-sponsored by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-CA, -- would expand HARP eligibility by providing equal access to streamlined refinancing under HARP, waive loan-to-value ratio requirements and prohibit Fannie and Freddie from charging upfront fees to refi any loan they guarantee. The new draft of the Menendez-Boxer, S. 249, includes a few technical corrections and would extend HARP for an additional 12 months beyond its scheduled expiration of Dec. 31, 2013.

While Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s conservator deliberates whether or when to roll out its proposed state-level guaranty fee increase, industry observers say that the Federal Housing Finance Agency has plotted a course for significant, if gradual, g-fee hikes for the two GSEs. Last summer, the Finance Agency announced a 10 basis point rise in g-fees on single-family mortgages effective Nov. 1, 2012, for government-sponsored enterprise loans sold for cash and starting Dec. 1 for GSE loans exchanged for MBS. The November/December guaranty fee increase follows a similar 10bp hike the two GSEs implemented on April 1, 2012.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency has tabled – for now – a plan being pushed by Fannie Mae to lower force-placed insurance rates by as much as 30 percent, bringing in a group of insurance firms that are not traditional players in the market, industry officials who were briefed on the matter said. These officials, speaking under the condition their names not be published, said Fannie Executive Vice President Terry Edwards was heavily pushing the plan, but in the end the FHFA decided to delay action and set up a study group to look into the matter further. The names of the insurers that Fannie was working with were not released.

The Inspector General of the Federal Housing Finance Agency has produced and posted his own video that serves as part introduction and part public outreach for tips about potential waste, fraud or abuse at Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the 12 Federal Home Loan Banks. Located on the home page of the agency’s website – fhfaoig.gov – and titled “Welcome Video for FHFA-OIG,” the 2½ minute video, of unmistakably modest production value, features Inspector General Steve Linick speaking directly to the camera with an American flag mural in the background.

Democrat detractors of the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s acting director may yet again see their desires to oust him denied amid bitter partisan wrangling over top-level Cabinet nominees and a possible dearth of replacements that are both confirmable and willing.Late last week, some 45 House Democrats called on President Obama yet again to take action and nominate a permanent replacement for FHFA Acting Director Edward DeMarco. Democrats have spent well over a year both trying to get the Bush-era holdover fired and get him to play ball with them on their housing agenda, foremost being Dems’ desired proposal to have Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac offer principal reduction assistance to troubled borrowers.

Look for lawmakers during the 113th Congress to bring considerable attention and legislative effort to bear regarding the future of housing and mortgage finance, but reform and resolution of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are far from the top of the priority lists of the two major committees with purview over the GSEs. This week, the House Financial Services Committee in the Republican-held House and the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee of the Democrat-majority Senate issued their respective agendas for the 2013-2014 session. Sen. Tim Johnson, D-SD, said the Banking Committee will “continue to seek bipartisan consensus” on a new structure for housing finance.

Add this to the mortgage banker worry-list: the FHFA is once again toying with the idea of changing the minimum servicing fee on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans.

Three of the nation’s major credit rating agencies are the subject of a mortgage securities-related probe by New York’s top prosecutor, following the issuance of a subpoena and other requests for information on certain rated pre-financial crisis deals. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman quietly launched his own investigation last week into allegations that Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings issued favorable ratings to certain MBS leading up to the financial crisis to drum up more business. Schneiderman issued...

Moody’s Investor Services ranked as the top rating service in non-mortgage ABS ratings during 2012, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS ranking. DBRS was the leader in rating non-agency MBS transactions last year. In a market that grew by 15.9 percent in 2012, Moody’s increased the volume of ABS deals it rated by just 6.9 percent over its activity back in 2011. Still, the company edged past Fitch Ratings with a 64.9 percent market share even though it mostly sat out the booming credit card sector. Moody’s had its highest penetration rates in business loan ABS and was well represented in student loan and vehicle finance securitizations. Fitch had...[Includes two data charts]

A record number of investors are participating in the vehicle ABS sector and competition is increasing among issuers, prompting issuance and pricing close to pre-crisis levels. However, there are concerns that the strong performance by recent vintages of vehicle ABS will not last as underwriting standards loosen. Robert McDonald, a vice president at Goldman Sachs, said a vehicle ABS with 40 investors was previously considered to be a broadly distributed transaction. He said recent deals have had 60 investors. “We’re at an all-time high in terms of the number of unique investors for a transaction,” McDonald said at the American Securitization Forum’s ASF 2013 conference. Some $61.00 billion in ABS backed...