Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and mortgage-backed securities trustees representing investors in non-agency MBS sued the city of Richmond, CA, this week to stop it from further implementing a plan to use eminent domain authority to seize and purchase performing underwater mortgages. Wells Fargo and Deutsche Bank, acting as trustees for a group of investors that includes BlackRock, Inc., Pacific Investment Management and the government-sponsored enterprises, filed the lawsuit in federal court in San Francisco at the behest of certificate holders. The plaintiffs are asking the court to declare the “Richmond Seizure Program” unconstitutional and in violation of California laws, and to order city officials to end the program. Securitizers and investors are...

“It is difficult to project how many HARP-eligible loans will ultimately be refinanced,” the FHFA IG writes in a new report.

Two Harbors revealed that it is advanced talks to purchase a potentially significant portfolio of mortgage servicing rights later this year.

For the first time in six years, the four surviving private MIs reported a combined profit on their domestic MI business during 2Q13.

The SEC said the deal has taken nearly $70 million in losses – the greatest loss rate of any comparable securitization from Bank of America. An additional $50 million in losses are expected.

In its earnings release, Freddie said it will not capture its deferred tax asset (DTA) valuation allowance which now stands at $28.6 billion.

Who says that wholesale lending through loan brokers is dead? Carrington Mortgage and other firms are expanding in the sector.

Though the end of July, Freddie has issued roughly $302 billion of single-family MBS compared to $500 billion for Fannie.

The NAIHP is concerned that "responsible consumers" may have been "intentionally" knocked out of the QM box.”

Portfolio recapture, wholesale, and builder channels accounted for almost 79 percent of its fundings in 2Q.