The Federal Trade Commission has announced the appointment of Edward Hassi as chief litigation officer for the agency’s Bureau of Competition. He replaces J. Robert Robertson, who left the agency in 2010 to return to private practice. Hassi is formerly a partner at the Washington, DC, law firm O’Melveny & Myers, where he served...
The Obama administration’s bid to scale back the government footprint in the housing market by allowing conforming loan limits to decline would have a measurable impact on the FHA program. The administration wants to let the “emergency” high-cost loan limit – now $729,750 in the most expensive housing markets – sunset...[Includes two data charts]
Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks all recorded significant declines in new debt issuance during 2010. The GSEs collectively issued $3.454 trillion in new debt during 2010, a decline of 25.3 percent from the previous year. New issuance effectively just replaced...[Includes one data chart]
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac purchases of distressed loans from mortgage-backed securities nearly offset the run-off of the GSEs’ retained MBS holdings in 2010, according to a new Inside The GSEs analysis. Fannie and Freddie held...[Includes one data chart]
H.R. 463 has been introduced in the House of Representatives to extend the Freedom of Information Act to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during periods when they are in conservatorship or receivership, as they are now. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-UT, who introduced the bill, noted that...
The Department of Justice and state attorneys general are watching the mortgage servicing arena closely for signs of unfair or discriminatory business practices, and whether minority borrowers are receiving loan modifications on par with similarly situated non-minority borrowers. While fair lending on the loan origination side remains...
The Obama administration has submitted a plan to Congress for reforming the nation’s housing finance market, including fixing the basic flaws in the mortgage financing chain. Among other things, a top administration priority for the immediate future is a series of reforms to correct problems in...
The House Financial Services Committee intends to conduct a hearing to examine the impact of the Federal Reserve’s recent regulation governing compensation to mortgage loan originators. In its oversight plan for the 112th Congress, the HFSC expressed concern that the Fed’s LO pay rules, which take effect April 1, may have an adverse impact on...
The Small Business Administration has joined other stakeholders in asking the Federal Reserve Board to postpone the April 1 implementation date of its final rule on mortgage loan originator compensation. In a recent letter, the SBA’s Office of Advocacy said the compliance guidance for small businesses it had requested...
Most mortgage industry groups have expressed support for a proposal by the Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) to require non-bank residential mortgage lenders and loan originators to establish anti-money laundering (AML) plans and report suspicious financial transactions. The groups, which represent...
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