More Industry Advice for a Post-Cordray CFPB. Competitive Enterprise Institute financial policy expert John Berlau said last week, “Richard Cordray’s impending resignation as director of the CFPB is long overdue.... Growth of CFPB Leveling Off. The total number of employees at the CFPB came to 1,668 for fiscal year 2017, up 20 positions from the year before, according to the bureau’s latest financial statements for the last two years.... GAO Signs Off on CFPB Financial Statements. The Government Accountability Office audited the CFPB’s financial statements for fiscal years 2016 and 2017, and found they are “presented fairly, in all material respects, in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.”...

Freddie officials stated that the GSE continued to incur market-adjusted pricing costs in the form of lower MBS guarantee fees.

The Fannie/Freddie receivables would come primarily from California, Florida and Texas.

This most-risky bucket accounted for just 2.6 percent of refi business in the third quarter...

Celini also worked for Sun National and Ally Bank, formerly known as GMAC Bank…

Tech vendors believe that home lenders are seeing dramatic benefits from automating their secondary marketing operations…

Franklin Codel's LinkedIn profile had been wiped clean...

After being absent for about 10 years, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will re-enter the low-income housing tax credit market to support affordable rental housing, the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced late this week. But the GSEs’ market share will be capped so they’re not in direct competition with the private market, and their investments must meet certain requirements. Fannie and Freddie will have an annual investment limit of $500 million, which translates to less than a 5 percent market share for each, according to the FHFA. Moreover, any investments more than $300 million during any year must be in areas that have been identified by the FHFA as markets that have difficulty attracting investors.

With the Senate and the House having both recently released their tax proposals, it’s the House plan to cut corporate taxes in 2018 that would impact the GSEs by threatening their deferred tax assets. A corporate tax cut would likely force Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to take draws from the U.S. Treasury. This is especially true in light of the fact that by Jan. 1, 2018, neither GSE will be allowed to hold a capital buffer to absorb any losses. A cut to corporate taxes means a write down of some Fannie/Freddie DTAs, including mortgage-related assets, allowances for bad loans, derivatives-related basis differences and deferred fees, which are all currently held at a higher tax rate.

With several recent hearings on sustainable housing finance under its belt, the House Financial Services Committee appears to be exploring GSE reform in depth, but no word yet on when and what that may look like. The HFSC’s Subcommittee on Insurance and Housing held three hearings over a three-week period with the latest taking place last week. A financial services committee staffer wouldn’t confirm whether a piece of legislation is being worked on, but she said that committee Chair Jeb Hensarling, R-TX, believes housing finance reform is a priority for the committee this Congress.