In response to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s request for comments on its recent strate-gic plan, the American Securitization Forum put out a white paper this week spelling out the mechanics and potential benefits of a blueprint to transition to a single agency security that could be issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. “Implemented correctly, a single agency security could benefit all participants in the mortgage market, including borrowers, originators, investors and the taxpayer,” said ASF Executive Director Tom Deutsch. Current trading markets for Fannie MBS and Freddie PCs are...

Representatives of the mortgage lending and securitization sectors are deeply concerned about and strongly opposed to a move in California that would use eminent domain to seize current non-agency mortgage loans and force their terms to be modified to ensure the affected homeowners can stay in their homes. The California county of San Bernardino and the cities of Ontario and Fontana have proposed to create a “joint powers authority to assist in preserving home ownership and occupancy for homeowners with negative equity within the parties’ jurisdictions,” according to a resolution adopted by the...

New issuance of residential MBS slipped modestly during the second quarter of 2012 despite a strong start in the securitization of deeply underwater Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgages. A total of $378.04 billion of single-family MBS were issued during the second quarter, down 3.4 percent from the first three months of 2012, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis. On a year-to-date basis, the market was still 30.5 percent ahead of issuance during the first half of 2011. The second quarter ended on a strong note. Total MBS production increased 12.5 percent from May to June, including a pickup in...

Credit Suisse last week issued its second non-agency MBS backed by prime jumbo loans, structuring slightly higher credit-enhancement levels than those seen on Redwood Trust jumbo deals. As was the case with its first jumbo MBS of 2012, the new Credit Suisse transaction (CSMC Trust 2012-CIM2) is backed largely by loans from the investment portfolio of MetLife Home Loans, which shut down its primary market originations activity early this year. The insurance company will continue to provide reps and warranty guaranties on MetLife loans, which accounted for 85.2 percent of the $425.1 million mortgage...

Federal officials deny that they’re growing weary of and disinterested in the ongoing foreclosure crisis, even while observers are calling for more effective solutions. “Folks in Washington tell me there is a general sense of foreclosure fatigue in our nation’s capital,” wrote Jean Braucher, a professor of law at the University of Arizona, in the finance blog Credit Slips. “It’s just so boring to keep thinking about all the people losing their homes year after year. Can’t we move on to something new? This attitude goes along with a failure to do anything meaningful to get out of the five-year-old mortgage crisis, still...

The appraisal industry is calling upon Congress to enact legislation to reform the current regula-tory structure for appraisers, at the same time warning that any unauthorized action by appraiser regula-tory agencies to toughen oversight would hurt and jeopardize the profession. Testifying before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Insurance, Housing and Economic Opportunity last week, the Appraisal Institute said the Appraisal Subcommittee of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council and the Appraisal Foundation, an authorized private regula-tory body, have agreed to...

The Supreme Court of the United States had a chance to resolve the issue of whether an individ-ual who has not suffered any actual damages from violations of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act has legal standing to sue in federal court. But instead, SCOTUS decided not to explore it. “The writ of certiorari is dismissed as improvidently granted,” the high court said in a terse an-nouncement late last week regarding First American Financial v. Edwards, a case it agreed to hear al-most to the day one year ago. The ruling means the plaintiff will in fact be able to move ahead and sue, as the...

A trio of Senate Democrats is squeezing the only private mortgage insurer not fully onboard with the Obama administration’s recent enhancements to the Home Affordable Refinance Program. Last week, Sens. Barbara Boxer, D-CA, Robert Menendez, D-NJ, and Herb Kohl, D-WI, dispatched a critical letter to United Guaranty Corp. CEO Kim Garland. The letter came attached with a set of eight questions for the MI and a less than subtle hint that the mortgage-insurance unit of Ameri-can International Group Inc. should get with the program just like everybody else. “Despite the industry consensus that removing...

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is proceeding with its effort to develop a rule to limit the upfront points and fees mortgage originators could collect from borrowers – an initiative it began by assembling a small business regulatory review panel to consider the bureau’s initial direction. But one panel participant isn’t confident that their views are going to make much headway with an agency that may already have its mind made up. The CFPB is considering a handful of related proposals, one of which would require an interest-rate reduction when consumers elect to pay discount points. Specifically...

Mortgage industry insiders are applauding the decision by David Stevens to stay on as president and CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association rather than take the number two post at SunTrust Mortgage as he had previously announced. Stevens was to resign from the MBA on June 30, but the trade group this week announced that he had changed course and decided to stay. “After serious thought and consideration, I simply cannot leave the MBA at such a critical time for the industry and the association,” said Stevens. “Frankly, at the end of the day, stepping away now when so much progress is being made and...