Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s housing goal performance exceeded the benchmark levels for all of the single-family and multifamily goals set for the two government-sponsored enterprises in 2012, but preliminary figures show that Freddie is struggling to hit the mark for 2013, according to a new Federal Housing Finance Agency report. The FHFA’s annual report to Congress, released late last week, reveals official figures on each GSE’s goal performance in 2012 and preliminary data on goal performance in 2013. Both GSEs hit...[Includes one data chart]

He may know how to run a decent race, but does economics professor David Brat – the man who beat Rep. Eric Cantor in the GOP primary in Virginia – know the history of the mortgage meltdown?

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray came under sustained partisan criticism from Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee this week over the joint National Mortgage Database the CFPB is working on with the Federal Housing Finance Agency. “We have learned since Director Cordray was last before the committee that the joint database project by the CFPB and the FHFA will undeniably collect personally identifiable information on millions of Americans in the National Mortgage Database,” said Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-TX. “I’m not speaking merely of names, addresses and phone numbers – though the database will certainly include those – but shockingly also people’s Social Security numbers, their race, religion, personal financial information, and even the GPS coordinates of their homes. If this is not considered personally identifiable information by the CFPB, then I don’t know what is.” A breach of this database could cause...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development recently submitted to the Office of Management and Budget a draft final rule that would determine how the controversial national Housing Trust Fund would work. It remains highly uncertain that the trust fund will ever get any money; one potential source is annual contributions by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The Federal Housing Finance Agency under former Acting Director Ed DeMarco determined that the government-sponsored enterprises would not contribute to the fund, but housing advocates and Democrats on Capitol Hill have called for that decision to be reversed. In its annual strategic plan released earlier this year, the FHFA said...

Six months after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau implemented rules for originations and servicing, it’s too early to tell what impact the rules have had, according to industry participants, consumer advocates and even officials at the CFPB. The CFPB this week convened a meeting of its consumer advisory board, a 19-member panel of consumer advocates and other industry participants. Board members had plenty to say about issues in the mortgage market, but evidence about the impact of the CFPB’s rules – the reason for the meeting – was scant. Abhishek Agarwal, the CFPB’s acting assistant director of mortgage markets, said...

SunTrust Mortgage has agreed to pay $968 million to the federal government and 49 state attorneys general to resolve allegations of improper FHA origination and servicing practices. The company will pay $418 million to resolve potential liability under the False Claims Act for flawed FHA loans made from January 2006 through March 2012. …

As one jumbo participant put it: “More is good.” Redwood Trust also is working on a deal, industry officials said.

The terms of the settlement include $500 million in consumer relief and a cash payment of $468 million.

“Right now there’s a large discrepancy between what the buyer wants to pay and what the seller wants to sell at,” said Chuck Klein, managing partner in Mortgage Banking Solutions.

One competitor to Prospect described Mike Williams as a “great technical guy.” He added that having Prospect go public is “the next step” in Sterling’s exit strategy.”