Legislation that would allow privately insured credit unions access to the Federal Home Loan Bank system cleared committee last week and is headed to the House floor for a vote. Introduced in December by Rep. Steve Stivers, R-OH, and Joyce Beatty, D-OH, H.R. 3584, the Capital Access for Small Community Financial Institutions Act of 2013, would amend the Federal Home Loan Bank Act to allow privately insured credit unions to be eligible for FHLBank membership. H.R. 3584 was voted out of the House Financial Services Committee by a vote of 55-0.

Lawmakers and industry groups are strongly suggesting that the Federal Housing Finance Agency think twice then forget about its proposal to set GSE conforming purchase limits. The conforming loan limit is currently $417,000 and the high-cost conforming loan limit is $625,500. Last December, the FHFA proposed to establish “loan purchase” limits for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac which wouldn’t occur until October at the earliest.

GSE profits are poised to remain the multi-billion dollar gift that keeps on giving to Uncle Sam over the next decade, according to a White House analysis. The analysis, which is part of the Obama administration’s 2015 budget, assumes Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac remain in operation and continue to pay dividends to the government under the current “net worth sweep” arrangement promulgated by the Treasury Department in the summer of 2012. As part of the President’s Fiscal Year 2015 budget request, the White House Office of Management and Budget released projections that the GSEs could return an additional $179.2 billion to the Treasury through 2024.

Fannie, Freddie Helped by Special Servicers. While nonbank servicers are under scrutiny from a number of different parties, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac said special servicers reduce credit losses compared with traditional bank servicers. In its latest earnings report, Freddie said it facilitated the transfer of servicing for $55.6 billion in unpaid principal balance to special servicers in 2013. “Some of these specialty servicers have grown rapidly in the last two years and now service a large share of our loans,” the GSE said.

A continued decline in GSE refinances, in concert with faltering purchase activity midway through the first quarter, helped contribute to an overall drop in the volume of single-family mortgages securitized by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in February. Fannie and Freddie issued $44.6 billion in single-family mortgage-backed securities in February, a 5.1 percent decline from January and a steeper 62.0 percent drop for the first two months of 2014 compared to the same period in the previous year.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2013 wrapped up most of the massive amount of repurchase demands they made on legacy loans originated before 2008, but the GSEs are looking more closely at new production and, increasingly, servicer performance. Together, Fannie and Freddie reported a total of $37.87 billion in mortgage repurchases and other settlements of buyback claims, which typically means the lender indemnified the GSE for its losses.

Other firms had more of a jumbo focus. Second-ranked PHH Mortgage reported that 50.0 percent of its originations in 2013 were non-agency jumbos.

A number of lenders said they have put an increased emphasis on jumbo ARMs due to the rise in interest rates that started in May of 2013.

Not only is the spring home buying season beginning to show signs of life, so too is the M&A market for mortgage companies.

When conflicts of interest were unearthed, Aurora terminated the contract in 2012, leaving $28 million in unpaid bills. But Allonhill wanted its money.