Average MBS guaranty fees charged by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac jumped from 36 basis points in 2012 to 51 bps last year, according to an annual study by the Federal Housing Finance Agency that was released late this week. But the impact of the fee hikes was not spread uniformly across the government-sponsored enterprises’ business. The report shows that the estimated average g-fee on purchase mortgages climbed from 40 bps in 2012 to 55 bps last year. The average fee for refinances rose slightly less, by 14 bps, for both rate-term deals (48 bps in 2013) and cash-out refinances (53 bps last year). According to the FHFA study sample, the purchase business rose...

The head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency told Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee members this week that a decision on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guaranty fees will come soon after the New Year. In his first oversight hearing since taking the reins of the agency in January, FHFA Director Mel Watt stated during questioning that the regulator of the government-sponsored enterprises will make its move on g-fees during the first quarter of 2015. In one of his first acts as FHFA director, Watt postponed...

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York announced this week that it selected three firms to participate in a pilot project to expand agency MBS sellers beyond the large primary dealers that work with the NY Fed. The pilot will last for about one year and the firms will participate as counterparties on the Open Market Trading Desk along with primary dealers in the Desk’s agency MBS operations. Brean Capital, Loop Capital Markets and Mischler Financial Group were selected to participate in the Mortgage Operations Counterparty Pilot Program, which was announced in August. The NY Fed didn’t disclose the number of firms that applied for the pilot but noted that the intent was always to work with a small number of firms to speed the pilot and keep costs low for the NY Fed. The pilot program participants are set...

Home Partners of America, a single-family rental company affiliated with MBS veteran Lewis Ranieri, has been quietly gobbling up homes across the U.S., and may have its eye on tapping the securitization market. “They are very active,” said one associate close to Ranieri, who spoke under the condition his name not be used. Moreover, Home Partners – formerly known as Hyperion Homes LLC – recently received...

There’s a growing fear that the CSBS might move to increase capital standards for nonbank originators as well.

The subprime servicing business continued to decline during the third quarter of 2014, and the sector’s top player faces big challenges in trying to get any bigger. The supply of subprime mortgage servicing outstanding fell to an estimated $352 billion at the end of the third quarter, according to a new Inside Nonconforming Markets ranking. That was down 5.9 percent from the end of June and off 15.8 percent from a year ago. Ocwen Financial remained the top servicer ... [Includes one data chart]

Bond investing giant PIMCO has made an investment in Citadel Servicing, a small but fast-growing nonprime lender that could wind up originating $400 million in non-agency residential loans next year. Industry officials confirmed the investment to Inside Nonconforming Markets, although neither company would comment. One source close to the transaction said PIMCO’s stake in Citadel is under 30 percent. The lender, which raised $200 million in seed money early last year, has been funding ...

The servicing transfer from Wells Fargo to Ocwen Financial that had been on hold for more than eight months was cancelled last week by the two firms. Scrutiny from the New York Department of Financial Services prompted Ocwen to place the transfer on hold in February. The transfer was first announced in January and would have involved servicing on non-agency mortgage-backed securities with an unpaid principal balance of $35.9 billion along with $3.3 billion in mortgages serviced for ...

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed new servicing requirements this week. Among other changes, the federal regulator proposed requiring servicers to offer loss mitigation to borrowers that have received a loan mod but are in danger of re-default. The CFPB’s servicing rules currently require a servicer to evaluate a borrower for loss mitigation only once during the life of the loan. The proposed rule would also set requirements for ... [Includes three briefs]

“It’s been seven years since the financial crisis, and certainly a lot of things have changed,” said Rui Pereira, managing director at Fitch Ratings.