GSE shareholders seeking to challenge the Federal Housing Finance Agency based on its single-director structure may now face an added challenge. The Federal Housing Finance Agency has asked the courts to review the decision of the DC Circuit in PHH Corp. v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as it relates to similar complaints against the agency. When a 2016 ruling found that the similarly structured Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is not constitutional, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shareholders filed lawsuits asking the courts to vacate the Treasury sweep of GSE profits altogether.
Mortgage delinquencies overall increased at the end of the year, with the poor performance largely attributed to areas hit by hurricanes in August and September. Mortgage performance in most of the rest of the country actually improved at the end of 2017.