“We hope that you will help us to push back on current efforts to gift the proprietary infrastructure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to the big banks,” the clergymen write.
Roughly a quarter of the single-family business that passed through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during the first half of 2016 resulted from special treatment bestowed on the GSEs following the housing market collapse. The biggest factor is the so-called GSE patch, which exempts Fannie and Freddie from underwriting restrictions on “qualified mortgages” that are part of the ability-to-repay rule promulgated by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. For mortgages to get QM status, the debt-to-income ratio has to be 43 percent or less. However, the CFPB rule waives that requirement for Fannie and Freddie as long as they remain in conservatorship, up to a point.
Fannie Mae’s implementation of its updated loan origination tool, Desktop Underwriter 10.0, this week, represents the first widespread use of trended credit data in the mortgage industry and mortgage bankers are optimistic. It was one of the most anticipated changes in the rollout and was designed to give lenders a better understanding of a potential borrower’s creditworthiness...
In an attempt to cater to more diverse communities and likely drum up more business for its low downpayment program, Freddie Mac unveiled a new mortgage pilot with two lenders last week that loosens eligibility requirements. The program, Your Path, is different in that it is based on certain borrower characteristics and trends. It was launched with two nonbank lenders that specialize in serving the Hispanic community and low-income borrowers. It was announced during the national convention of the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals. New American Funding, headquartered in Dallas, and Las Vegas-based Alterra Home Loans are building on Freddie’s low downpayment Home Possible mortgage platform to create the pilot.
Fannie Mae Names Small Pool Winning Bidder. The Community Loan Fund of New Jersey, Inc., an affiliate of New Jersey Community Capital, a non-profit community development financial institution, is the winning bidder of Fannie Mae’s fifth Community Impact Pool of non-performing loans. The transaction is expected to close on Nov. 22, 2016, and includes 120 loans secured by properties located in the Miami area with an unpaid principal balance of approximately $20.3 million. In collaboration with Wells Fargo Securities, LLC and The Williams Capital Group, L.P., Fannie Mae began marketing this Community Impact Pool to potential bidders on Aug. 10, 2016.