FHFA Director Mel Watt: “In fact, it is especially irresponsible for the enterprises not to have such a limited buffer..."

The Fannie/Freddie MSR portfolio has no delinquencies whatsoever…

But that didn’t stop the conservative from the Lone Star state from offering up some critiques on the FHFA...

Still, the deal world grinds forward. “Ten days ago, sales were dead, but interest is picking up again,” said Mark Garland, president of MountainView Servicing Group…

The MBS is backed by 3,548 mortgages that have seasoned for more than 11 years, on average.

Servicers of loans in MBS and ABS responded to recent hurricanes by aiming to limit investors’ losses while also showing consideration to borrowers. Practices vary across asset types, particularly in the MBS market. A number of issuers and servicers at the ABS East conference produced by Information Management Network last week in Miami Beach said they suspend collection-related calls to delinquent borrowers in the days immediately following a hurricane. Servicers also stressed that it’s important to hear from borrowers to better understand whether loss mitigation might be necessary. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and federal government entities involved in the mortgage market issued...

“Expectations have had to be reset post-election,” said Ryan Schoen, a senior financial services analyst at Washington Analysis.

For several months now we’ve been hearing reports that the Trump administration has grave concerns about the FHA program...

Lenders in the non-agency market are loosening underwriting standards to some extent as refinance activity is expected to decline. Some 22 percent of the lenders surveyed by Fannie Mae said they loosened underwriting standards for non-agency mortgages during the third quarter. And 13 percent said they plan to loosen credit standards in the fourth quarter. Only 3 percent of the non-agency lenders surveyed by Fannie said...

Ginnie Mae’s inadequate response to the rapid increase of nonbank issuers may make it difficult for the agency to identify issuer problems in time to prevent default, warned the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s inspector general in a recent audit report. Specifically, the IG report said the agency failed to implement policies and procedures for managing issuers in a timely manner and tried to supervise them without a written default strategy. Furthermore, the report claimed Ginnie did not promptly assess and address the risks posed by nonbanks. Ginnie Mae questioned the findings, contending it “has done a more than credible job adapting to the new environment” despite the pressure on its resources. Ginnie’s issuer base had changed dramatically over the last couple of years as many banks either left or reduced their exposure in the FHA market for fear of being slapped with a ...