Mnuchin Wants GSE Reform in Next Congress. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is worried about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac expanding their already large role in the mortgage market and said he’s not against taking administrative action absent a legislative solution for reforming the mortgage giants.During the secretary’s annual testimony to the House Financial Services Committee late last week, Mnuchin reiterated his position in wanting lawmakers to reform the GSEs and said he expects that to happen in the next Congress. “This is something that I am determined, in the next Congress, should be a major focus of ours, hopefully on...

As refinance business declines, the government-sponsored enterprises are stepping up efforts to help lenders produce more volume in other areas. At the California Mortgage Bankers Association’s secondary market conference this week in San Francisco, officials from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac touted various efforts to help lenders and ultimately prop up GSE MBS issuance.

While the GSEs have been engaging in risk-based pricing for mortgage guarantees since the crisis, very large cross subsidies remain, according to one panelist from the Federal Reserve…

The MBA wants the FHFA to allow the industry to have a say in all new enterprise pilots, programs and products.

CoreLogic is touting a new on-demand service that makes residential condominium lending a less strenuous process for lenders even as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac warm up the market with policy changes to drum up new business. The new service, CondoSafe Express, simplifies condo lending by taking over the extra layer of work lenders must perform to originate a condo loan. “Lenders not only have to get a borrower’s credit report, verify income and ... [Includes one data chart]

FHA officials have fretted about rising DTI ratios for some time…

A HUD spokesman told this news organization that “non-U.S. citizens without lawful residency in the U.S. are not eligible for FHA-insured mortgages.”

Meanwhile, several large MSR packages are currently out for bid.

Of course, there are some in the industry who will argue Fannie and Freddie are hardly zombie-like at all...

Part of the debate over the future of the government-sponsored enterprises is whether the existing cross subsidization in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pricing of guarantee fees for mortgage-backed securities should continue.