With third-quarter earnings results right around the corner for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Federal Housing Finance Agency last week released a revised range of projected draw-downs the GSEs could take from the U.S. Treasury over the next three years. Fannie’s and Freddie’s total taxpayer cash infusion could top as much as $209 billion by the end of 2015 – a “savings” of more than $100 billion from similar projections one year ago, according to the Finance Agency.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced this week they will partner to create a national mortgage database to provide detailed information about mortgage loans. “The database will primarily be used to support the agencies’ policymaking and research efforts and to help regulators better understand emerging mortgage and housing market trends,” said the FHFA and CFPB.

No matter who sits in the Oval Office or which party controls Congress following next week’s election, expect GSE reform to remain a secondary priority in 2013, despite the best efforts of select lawmakers who want to get the legislative ball rolling, experts say. A functioning non-agency mortgage-backed securities market is necessary before members of Congress can be convinced to move forward with GSE reform, according to Rep. David Schweikert, R-AZ. Schweikert told attendees of the ABS East conference in Miami last week that’s why he plans to introduce legislation during the 113th Congress to establish a non-agency MBS framework.

The streamlined short sale programs announced last summer by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac received an extra boost from mortgage insurers as the programs took effect Nov 1.The GSEs this week announced signed delegation agreements with nine private mortgage insurance companies to allow Fannie and Freddie servicers to complete short sales and deeds-in-lieu without seeking approval from the MI.

The government’s civil mortgage fraud lawsuit filed last week against Bank of America and Countrywide Financial for allegedly scheming to defraud Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could have serious adverse consequences for the industry going forward, according to an industry attorney. Filed by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, the government contends that since the U.S. Treasury has been forced to bail out the two GSEs, losses suffered by Fannie and Freddie can be recovered under the False Claims Act – a federal law that provides for treble damages and penalties. Laurence Platt, financial services practice leader at K&L Gates, warned participants during an Inside Mortgage Finance webinar that the government’s lawsuit against BofA and others like it sure to follow, threatens to turn “every low-level rep and warranty” with Fannie or Freddie into a federal case.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency can and should impose greater transparency standards on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac given the two GSEs’ linchpin role in the mortgage market today, according to the head of the Mortgage Bankers Association. MBA President and CEO David Stevens at the association’s annual convention in Chicago two weeks ago called for the Finance Agency – as GSE conservator – to require Fannie and Freddie to comply with public notice and comment rules before the GSEs impose new rules on the real estate finance industry. Taxpayer-supported Fannie and Freddie, along with Ginnie Mae – a wholly owned government corporation within the Department of Housing and Urban Development – currently backstop some 90 percent of all new mortgages.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency recently issued an updated strategic plan in which the FHFA outlines the next phase of conservatorship for the GSEs, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The FHFA’s plan establishes “restrictions and expectations” for the GSEs, which have been under government conservatorship since September 2008, but the agency does not manage the day-to-day operations of the two companies. Just like the draft document first submitted to Congress earlier this year, the FHFA’s updated Strategic Plan: Fiscal Years 2013-2017 sets four broad goals for the Finance Agency: safe and sound housing GSEs; stability, liquidity, and access in housing finance; preserve and conserve the GSEs’ assets; and prepare for the future of housing finance in the U.S.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac this week directed servicers to inform homeowners reeling from the damage inflicted by Hurricane Sandy that they may be eligible for a temporary reprieve on their mortgage payments. The GSEs’ announcement reiterated their policy on mortgage relief to borrowers located in jurisdictions that the president has declared to be major disaster areas.

With most precincts now having reported third-quarter earnings, the outcome is clear: mortgage banking was hugely profitable during the third quarter of 2012. A new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of earnings reports from 25 public companies reveals record mortgage banking income of $9.903 billion during the third quarter. That was a huge 19.2 percent increase over the hefty $8.311 billion these companies earned from their mortgage banking activities during the second quarter ... [Includes one data chart]