The auction market for nonperforming mortgages is beginning to generate heat with prices rising nicely from last year.

Come next year, Freddie Mac will assess lenders a fee of $7,500 if they fail to deliver mortgage loans with an aggregate principal balance of more than $5 million.

Nonbank servicers had an average of 275 loans per employee in the second half of 2012, according to Fitch, about the same level seen since 2010.

New bulk MSR packages continue to hit the market. Many of the new deals have low coupons and hardly any delinquencies.

A new bill to replace Fannie and Freddie with a single government guarantor is already being dismissed.

The Senate Banking Committee has yet to schedule a confirmation hearing for Mel Watt to head FHFA. Does this lack of action mean anything?

Even as industry chatter increases about an effort to extend the eligibility date of the Home Affordable Refinance Program, analysts speculate that more HARP may be too much of a good thing for the mortgage market. Analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cite evidence of a “creeping goal line” to move back by 12 months the June 1, 2009, cut-off date for HARP eligibility. KBW cites a Saturday morning address by President Obama earlier this month on the subject of refinance. “While he did not specifically mention extending HARP, we think an announcement could be coming over the next few weeks to extend the eligibility back one year,” said KBW. More telling, said BAML, is...

Freddie Mac this week issued $1.04 billion of MBS backed by modified loans, making a small dent in the government-sponsored enterprise’s portfolio of distressed mortgages. The securities were issued under a new MBS prefix reserved just for modified loans, and Freddie officials indicated that the securities would be held in portfolio rather than sold in the market. All of the modified loans are fixed-rate mortgages, although $138.2 million of the loans were originally adjustable-rate mortgages. Most of the loan mods have 30-year terms. The loans in the first batch of mod MBS were originated...

Ginnie Mae has proposed revising its buyout policy to eliminate inconsistencies in servicers’ repurchase practices and to discourage early buyouts of seriously delinquent loans from Ginnie MBS. Under the current policy, Ginnie Mae issuers may buy out delinquent loans if the borrower fails to make any payment for three consecutive months. However, many issuers have been applying the policy inconsistently, according to Michael Drayne, senior vice president for issuer and portfolio management at Ginnie Mae. Some servicers have been interpreting...[Includes one data chart]

Is Ralph Nader in bed with hedge funds over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? Mortgage banking can make strange bed fellows.