Republicans in the House of Representatives continued their efforts to chip away at the Dodd-Frank Act during a hearing this week by rolling out critics who said the act not only was a poor and ineffective response to the 2008 financial crisis, but also created a host of new problems and could be contributing to the next debacle. Rep. Sean Duffy, R-WI, chairman of the House Financial Services Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, said a major assumption underlying Dodd-Frank – that the primary cause of the financial crisis was misbehavior by securities market participants – was false. “Main Street lenders are being...
The CFPB this week launched a public inquiry into student loan servicing practices that create repayment challenges, hurdles for distressed borrowers and economic incentives that may affect the quality of service. “As a growing share of student loan borrowers reach out to their servicers for help, the problems they encounter bear an uncanny resemblance to the situation where struggling homeowners reached out to their mortgage servicers before, during and after the financial crisis,” CFPB Director Richard Cordray said during a field hearing in Milwaukee on Thursday. “Having seen the improper and unnecessary foreclosures experienced by many homeowners, the CFPB is concerned that inadequate servicing is also contributing to America’s growing student loan default problem.” Currently, about 8 million Americans are...
The Federal Housing Finance Agency surprised no one when it announced a fifth, and final, extension of the Home Affordable Refinance Program for underwater Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans. But industry experts are intrigued by the prospect of a new streamlined refi program for the two government-sponsored enterprises. Analysts from Barclays said an extension was widely expected by the market and, as a result, “may not have much of an effect on seasoned cohort valuations.” FHFA Director Mel Watt announced...
The Federal Housing Finance Agency is trying to put a dollar amount on damages it believes Nomura Holdings and RBS Securities should pay after a federal judge found the companies liable in connection with Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s pre-crisis investments in non-agency MBS. Judge Denise Cote of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York said the complex case boiled down to whether the defendants accurately described in the offering documents the mortgages that underlie the securities sold to the government-sponsored enterprises. It was...
A new regulatory relief bill drafted by Sen. Richard Shelby, R-AL, would guarantee that the common securitization platform project managed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would be open to all MBS issuers “as soon as practicable,” and structured as a nonprofit utility. The legislation, which also expands the risk-transfer activities of the two government-sponsored enterprises, lays the groundwork for the CSP being transferred away from the GSEs and managed by a third-party provider. But that doesn’t mean...
In a recent 10-K filing Ocwen disclosed that on April 30, 2015 it announced agreements with the GSEs to sell portfolios of non-performing loan servicing rights.
Watt said GSE pay should be brought more in line with comparable private sector jobs, but no higher than what CEOs in the 25th percentile of the market make, which is roughly $7.26 million a year.
FHA volume in Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities rebounded in April because of the agency’s price cut in late January and improvements in the economy, according to industry participants. Recent data from the FHA show a sharp uptick in refinance business, which jumped from $2.29 billion in endorsements in February to $8.15 billion in March. Total FHA forward-mortgage business rose by 83.8 percent from February. The surge came...
RSS