Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac reported sharply different earnings results for the first quarter, but at least one thing was mostly the same: both government-sponsored enterprises continued to push a significant volume of loans back to lenders through repurchase demands while carrying a large inventory of unresolved buybacks. “Some of our seller/servicers have failed to fully perform their repurchase obligations due to a lack of financial obligations in a timely manner,” Freddie said in its first quarter 2011 earnings report. As of March 31, 2011, the unpaid balance of loans subject to...

With a little over two months remaining before the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is scheduled to formally take over the sprawling smorgasbord of federal mortgage responsibilities, the lack of a director for the controversial new agency could hinder the CFPB’s launch. Republicans on Capitol Hill have stepped up their campaign to restructure the agency before it gets off the ground. The House Financial Services Committee this week is scheduled to mark up several bills that would impose a five-member commission to oversee the CFPB, rather than a single director, and delay its takeover of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, Truth in Lending Act and other consumer protection laws until...

The much-maligned Home Affordable Modification Program posted modest gains in the number of new trial and permanent modifications started during the first quarter of 2011, according to an Inside Mortgage Finance analysis of data released by the Obama administration. The number of new permanent mods started rose 8.1 percent from the fourth quarter, while the number of new trial mod offers was up 2.2 percent. First-quarter 2011 volume in both categories remained well below the levels set back in early 2010, when the program was still gaining traction. The number of active permanent HAMP modifications rose... [Includes two data charts]

The Government Accountability Office says the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and other federal regulators should include foreclosure practices in their anticipated national servicing standards, as well as a formal assessment of the risks that are associated with poor documentation practices – the exact repercussions of which are still undetermined. The new GAO report was sparked by widespread criticism of mortgage servicers’ handling of foreclosure documents. It was believed that many affidavits had been improperly notarized or signed, leading to concerns over how these loans were transferred into...

The Department of Justice this week flexed its muscle against mortgage redlining in a settlement with a Michigan lender while expressing growing concern over a possible re-emergence of redlining as access to credit becomes more difficult. Industry attorneys noted with some alarm the message the DOJ is sending mortgage lenders through its settlement with Citizens Republic Bancorp and Citizens Bank of Flint, MI. They say the message reflects disturbing trends that defense lawyers have been seeing in their representations of lenders accused of redlining. The proposed settlement, which requires court approval, was filed in conjunction with...

A proposed “qualified mortgage” standard to determine a borrower’s ability to repay a mortgage loan creates many pitfalls for loan originators and subjects them to enormous liability if they fail to comply, warned compliance experts. The risk of making non-qualified mortgages for lenders is the borrower’s defense to foreclosure and the higher damages that would be incurred for noncompliance, as well as the impact on the liquidity of those loans if lenders were to sell them down the road, according to panelists on a webinar hosted last week by Inside Mortgage Finance. The proposed ability-to-repay rules and alternative definitions of a “qualified mortgage” (QM) are out for...

The so-called RMBS 2.0 features squeaky-clean collateral and high-definition transparency, but industry experts say, more importantly, that after years of mostly talk there is now some momentum in the market. Adam Yarnold, a managing director at Barclays Capital, said there are half a dozen residential mortgage conduits – including his firm – that are buying loans. During a panel session at the secondary market conference sponsored by the Mortgage Bankers Association, he noted that more broker/dealers are in the wings. Barclays is buying high-quality loans with loan-to-value ratios below 70 percent and debt-to-income ratios that come close to the standards proposed by federal regulators for qualified residential mortgages, Yarnold said. The company hosts a web-based portal through which it locks loans and...

Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continued to shrink their mortgage portfolios as required by government regulators during the first quarter of 2011 even as the two government-sponsored enterprises posted dramatically different earnings reports for the first three months of the year. Under the terms of the purchase agreement with the Treasury Department and under Federal Housing Finance Agency regulation, both Fannie and Freddie’s mortgage-related investments portfolio are subject to a cap that decreases by 10 percent each year until each portfolio reaches $250 billion. By Dec. 31, 2011, neither company will be able to hold an unpaid principal balance for mortgage-related investments that exceeds $729 billion. “FHFA has stated that we will not be a substantial buyer or seller of mortgages for... [Includes one data chart]

The Securities and Exchange Commission is reportedly looking into the securitization and put-back practices of Credit Suisse and JPMorgan Chase in connection with alleged recoveries from defective mortgages repurchased by originators from securitization trusts. Credit Suisse confirmed to Inside MBS & ABS a disclosure made by bond insurer MBIA Insurance Corp. that the Zurich-based bank had received a subpoena from the SEC seeking data on repurchases of certain defective loans. The disclosure was made in a lawsuit against three Credit Suisse units – Credit Suisse Securities, DLJ Mortgage Capital, Inc. and Select Portfolio Servicing – which MBIA filed with the New York State Supreme Court on April 29. The suit seeks to compel Credit Suisse to turn over data which MBIA believes would bolster its fraud and breach-of-contract claims against...

&PTop rating agencies continue to have different requirements for issuers to obtain the most favorable ratings on certain transactions, including the all-important criterion of credit enhancement. The latest manifestation of this dynamic involved a recent $1.45 billion servicer advance receivable transaction by American Home Mortgage Servicing Inc., a deal that passed muster with DBRS and Standard & Poor’s. But AHMS withdrew the deal from consideration at Fitch Ratings because of that company’s more conservative rating criteria. DBRS and S gave most components of the transaction a triple-A rating. That included two $325 million senior term notes and a $600 million senior variable funding note. The deal included subordinate term notes of $150 million and $50 million. The primary assets of...