A three-judge federal panel this week agreed to hear a rare interlocutory appeal by one of the defendants in a series of lawsuits that the Federal Housing Finance Agency has filed in connection with non-agency MBS purchased by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals accepted UBS Americas’ appeal, which had been certified by Judge Denise Cote of the U.S. District Court of New York in late June. UBS seeks to re-argue and reverse Judge Cote’s May 4 denial of the bank’s motion to dismiss on statute of limitation grounds. The FHFA sued...

The Senate Finance Committee recently approved legislation by a bipartisan vote of 19-5 to extend tax relief for principal forgiven on a mortgage, which is set to expire at the end of this year, and restore the mortgage insurance deduction that expired at the end of 2011. The “Family and Business Tax Cut Certainty Act of 2012” approved by the Senate Finance Committee would extend both tax breaks through 2013. Prospects for the legislation are murky, according to industry analysts, as Republicans are working to limit the extension of certain tax breaks. “This markup is not...

A federal judge in New York last week rejected the motion by a trio of former Fannie Mae executives to dismiss a securities fraud civil lawsuit brought late last year against the top GSE officers by the Securities and Exchange Commission. In December 2011, the SEC filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York alleging that former Fannie executives made material misrepresentations to the public, investors and the media about the government-sponsored enterprise’s exposure to subprime mortgage loans in 2007 and 2008. The SEC filed an identical parallel civil suit against Freddie Mac the same day. The SEC’s complaint against former Fannie executives Daniel Mudd (CEO), Enrico Dallavecchia (chief risk officer) and Thomas Lund (EVP for single family) alleges...

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s public expression of “concern” last week about proposals to use the eminent domain powers of local governments to seize performing underwater mortgages might be enough to significantly delay or even derail the effort outright, say experts. The conservator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and regulator of the 12 Federal Home Loan Banks warned that unspecified “action might be necessary” on its part “to avoid a risk to safe and sound operations” at the government-sponsored enterprises. “FHFA has significant concerns about the use of eminent domain to revise...

Mortgage delinquency rates trended higher in the second quarter of 2012, although the foreclosure picture appeared to be improving. The Inside Mortgage Finance Large Servicer Delinquency Index showed a 22 basis point increase in overall defaults, including loans just one month late and those in foreclosure. After dipping below the 10.00 percent level in March for the first time since late 2009, the overall past-due rate bounced back up to 10.10 percent as of the end of June. Most servicers reported...[Includes two data charts]

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau late last week issued its long-awaited proposal to establish national mortgage servicing standards for banks and nonbanks alike, extending a number of key aspects of the big national servicing settlement to the entire industry in the process. The proposed rule covers nine major topics and would implement changes made by the Dodd-Frank Act to the Truth in Lending Act and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. The proposed rule generally requires servicers of closed-end residential mortgage loans (other than reverse mortgages) to send a periodic statement for each billing cycle, and the CFPB’s proposal spells out the timing, form and content requirements of such statements, and includes sample forms that servicers can use. Special rules will apply...

Most of the mortgage industry’s modest increase in origination volume during the second quarter came through lenders’ retail production programs, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance ranking and analysis. Retail loan originations rose 9.2 percent to an estimated $250.0 billion during the second quarter, That represented a record 61.7 percent of the market’s total output for the period, the highest retail share since Inside Mortgage Finance began analyzing origination channel trends. Most of the top lenders reported increased retail production at a time when many – but certainly not all – were scaling down their wholesale operations. Total wholesale originations declined...[Includes four data charts]

The cost to close on a mortgage has dropped seven percent to an average $3,754 in the past year, according to the eighth annual closing costs survey from Bankrate.com. Title insurance and other third-party fees fell 12 percent from last year’s levels, while origination fees dipped a slight one percent. “This is the second year in which lenders are required...

Ocwen Financial is set to reduce its effective tax rate by more than half due to the recent formation of a subsidiary corporation in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The federal corporate income tax rate in the U.S. is 35.0 percent and Ocwen had an effective tax rate of 36.0 percent through two quarters in 2012. “We believe [Ocwen’s effective tax rate] will be mid-to-high single digits,” said Bill Erbey, executive chairman of the servicer, during an earnings presentation last week. He said the lower tax rate could take effect...

A number of nonbanks have increased their correspondent originations recently with plans to take more market share as the big banks focus on retail lending. Redwood Trust, PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust, Homeward Residential and others have all touted their recent correspondent efforts, both for agency mortgages and non-agency originations. Since 2010, Redwood has used its conduit platform to supply...