The National Association of Mortgage Brokers is tapping into national policymakers’ anxiety over job creation to press the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to rescind its loan originator compensation rule. Ever since the early April implementation of the Federal Reserve Board’s Regulation Z Truth-in-Lending rule on steering and LO compensation, consumers have experienced a “dramatic increase in costs on their mortgages,” the NAMB said, and the regulation has become “a great impediment on the vital service of mortgage lending throughout local communities.” The group also complained about the overall regulatory compliance burden of a seemingly ever-increasing amount of regulations coming out of Washington, DC.

Federal Housing Finance Agency. HARP Being Re-Evaluated. The Federal Housing Finance Agency and the Obama administration are working together to take another look at the current Home Affordable Refinance Program to see if they can conjure up ways to extend the benefits of this refinance product to more borrowers. “FHFA is carefully reviewing the mechanics of the HARP program to identify possible enhancements that would reduce barriers for borrowers already otherwise eligible to refinance using HARP,” said Edward DeMarco, the agency’s acting director. “If there are frictions associated with the origination of HARP loans that can be eased while still achieving the program's intent of assisting borrowers and reducing credit risk for [Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac], we will seek to do so. “Most creditworthy borrowers outside of the HARP program parameters and with positive equity should be able to refinance their mortgage through normal market mechanisms,” he added. “Indeed, since HARP’s inception [Fannie and Freddie] have completed more than 1 million streamlined refinances outside of HARP and nearly 7 million standard ‘rate and term’ refinances.”

The Homeowners Consumer Center is urging the U.S. Congress to immediately resurrect the homebuyers tax credit to help stabilize residential real estate markets throughout the country and to stimulate job creat “The reason the former attempt at a tax credit for homebuyers was not as successful as it could have been, is it was limited to first-time homebuyers only,” the group said. “We say give a $15,000 tax credit to anyone who is qualified to buy a house, including investors, and do it now.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s legal action late last week against many of the nation’s largest financial institutions on the grounds they misled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac about the quality of subprime and Alt A MBS purchased by the government-sponsored enterprises has few positives but plenty of negative potential consequences for the market, experts say. The 17 separate lawsuits filed by the FHFA seek unspecified damages on $196 billion in mortgage securities the two GSEs purchased, mostly between 2005 and 2008. The agency conducted extensive loan-level reviews that allegedly revealed widespread discrepancies between... [Includes two pages of data]

Private investors in agency MBS could lose $13 billion to $15 billion from a new government effort to help current Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHA borrowers refinance, according to a new Congressional Budget Office staff working paper. The Obama administration is expected to announce a revved-up refinance program as part of a new strategy to strengthen economic growth. A “stylized” refinance program analyzed by the CBO would have a relatively small impact on the overall economy, the analysts said. The biggest impact would be on private MBS investors and the estimated 2.9 million households that would likely be brought into the...

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae produced a total of $84.25 billion of new single-family MBS during August, a sturdy 19.8 percent jump from the previous month, according to a new analysis and ranking by Inside MBS & ABS. Although there was a brief bump higher in production in June, agency MBS issuance has generally been sliding lower since the end of 2010. The decline has corresponded to reduced production of refinance mortgages, which accounted for just 55.1 percent of new originations in the second quarter, down from 67.1 percent for all of last year. New data suggest the refi market is still struggling. Some 63.5 percent of...

The securitization market needs less uncertainty and a great deal more transparency in order to restore investor confidence and lure back private capital, industry executives told members of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises. Witnesses testifying before the subcommittee, which held a field hearing in New York City, said the state of the securitization market remains uncertain, not just due to government subsidies crowding out any private sector action but also because hesitant investors do not yet see much improvement in the opaque environment that led to the...

Goldman Sachs has been ordered to retain an independent consultant to review foreclosure proceedings initiated by its former subsidiary, Litton Loan Servicing LP, under a formal enforcement action announced by the Federal Reserve Board last week. The firm was also required to provide financial remediation to affected borrowers. Additional monetary penalties are likely to be announced shortly. The Fed said it was acting against Goldman Sachs “to address a pattern of misconduct and negligence relating to deficient practices in residential mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure processing” involving Litton. Goldman sold...

Ginnie Mae in a conference call with its MBS issuers said it is going to be focusing its attention on new definitions related to data collection, and urged industry participants to provide feedback. Currently, the loan-to-value ratio definition stands as the ratio of the current unpaid principal balance amount to the appraised value, estimated value or purchase price of the property, and that value must include the upfront mortgage insurance premium. Under the new definition, however, the LTV ratio would be based on the original principal balance, said Ginnie officials. This includes any mortgage insurance premium to lower the sale price or...