CFPB Director to Testify Before Senate Panel. CFPB Director Richard Cordray is among a number of federal financial regulators scheduled to testify the morning of Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013, before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee on the subject, “Wall Street Reform: Oversight of Financial Stability and Consumer and Investor Protections.” This will be Cordray’s first appearance before Congress since the Canning v. National Labor Relations Board decision was issued by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. FHA Chief to...

New issuance of agency single-family MBS jumped 25 percent from December to January, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS ranking and analysis. The most likely explanation for the sudden jump in agency MBS issuance may be that new, more seller-friendly repurchase policies at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac went into effect for loans sold after Jan. 1, 2013. The revamped policies generally provide that the government-sponsored enterprises will not seek repurchase or indemnification for loans that perform for the first three years after origination. In the case of Home Affordable Refinance Program loans, repurchases will be waived...[Includes one data chart]

The securitization industry has successfully shot down high-profile attempts in San Bernardino County, CA, and in Chicago to use eminent domain to seize underwater, performing mortgages, write them down to fair market value and repackage them for sale to other investors. However, they’re not letting their guard down, as similar efforts continue in a number of other local jurisdictions throughout the country – most notably Brockton, MA, and Salinas, CA. In Brockton, the City Council recently voted 9-2 in favor of setting up a working group to further explore the concept. It also voted to invite a handful of local community activists and city officials, as well as a representative from Mortgage Resolution Partners – the architect of the proposal – to appear before the finance committee. The issue on their agenda is...

David Schneider, CEO of Vericrest Financial, a fast growing servicer that is rumored to be a bidder on Ally Financial’s $122 billion of mortgage servicing rights, has left the company, sources familiar with the situation told Inside Mortgage Finance. Schneider could not be reached for comment at deadline. A spokeswoman for the company would not comment on the situation but would not deny his departure either. Schneider has been building bridges in the servicing community…

The ranks of non-agency mortgage-backed security issuers are set to expand beyond Redwood Trust and Credit Suisse, but industry analysts note that issuance remains constrained due to bank portfolio execution and the government-sponsored enterprises. At the American Securitization Forum’s ASF 2013 conference last week in Las Vegas, Laurie Goodman, a senior managing director at Amherst Securities Group, predicted $25 billion to $30 billion in new non-agency MBS will be issued this year, the most ...

Two real estate investment trusts are working toward joining Redwood Trust in issuing new non-agency jumbo mortgage-backed securities. Two Harbors Investment and PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust are acquiring jumbos with plans to securitize the loans and potentially hold the subordinate tranche, a model similar to Redwood’s efforts. Two Harbors first announced its intentions to issue new non-agency MBS in 2011, with a goal for issuance at the end of that year. Thomas Siering, president and CEO ...

Issuers, investors and even regulators agree that underwriting standards for non-agency mortgage-backed securities will have to loosen for the sector to grow. “We have to start moving down the credit spectrum,” said Sharif Mahdavian, a director and analytical manager of residential MBS at Standard & Poor’s. Speaking at the American Securitization Forum’s ASF 2013 conference last week in Las Vegas, he said non-agency originations could easily move from “shocking prime” to ...

The owners of Citadel Servicing are moving closer to raising capital in the range of $100 million to $200 million, but as Inside Nonconforming Markets went to press this week, they weren’t taking telephone calls about the transaction. The privately held Citadel is based in Orange County, CA. Its CEO is Dan Perl, a former thrift executive who has worked in nonprime but exited the business before the market crashed. Although Perl has declined interviews, at least two sources close to the company ...

Obama administration officials continue to claim that the administration is working toward a program to refinance or modify non-agency loans for borrowers with negative equity. Support in Congress for such a program is largely limited to Democrats, with the Obama administration suggesting that a non-legislative solution could be implemented. “We must expand streamline refinancing to families whose loans are not guaranteed by the government,” Michael Stegman, counselor to the Treasury ...

A deeply divided House Financial Services Committee took on FHA solvency this week as critics and defenders clashed over the agency’s practices, financial health and future role in the nation’s housing market. The distinctly partisan tone of the hearing quickly raised doubt as to whether the Republican majority and their Democratic opponents can come to some compromise to strengthen the FHA and reduce its risk to taxpayers. Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-TX, echoed complaints by Republican colleagues that the FHA is ...