Bank of America escaped having to pay $1.2 billion in penalties when a federal appeals court dismissed the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s allegations of fraud this week. The appeal stemmed from a 2013 verdict stating that Countrywide Home Loans, a subsidiary of BofA, was liable for damages caused by selling bad loans to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during the financial crisis. Whether or not a breach of contract can also support a claim for fraud was the argument and primary factor in the judge’s decision. It seems that even if a loan seller is guilty of an intentional breach of contract, it’s not considered fraud.
Top single-family executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac described new technology upgrades and the success of their credit-risk transfer programs during remarks at last week’s secondary market conference sponsored by the Mortgage Bankers Association. Andrew Bon Salle, executive vice-president for single-family business at Fannie, said the GSE is working to enhance the customer experience and make doing business with the company simpler and more certain. He said customers are reporting sharp gains in efficiency from Fannie’s collateral underwriting tool, and a new version of Desktop Underwriter will be rolled out next month. A key feature in version 10.0 of DU is the inclusion of trended credit data.
Wells Fargo partnered with Fannie Mae to roll out a new 3 percent down loan program with easier qualifying guidelines catered to first-time homebuyers and low- to moderate-income borrowers. Wells Executive Vice President Brad Blackwell told Inside The GSEs that yourFirstMortgage will replace three other high-LTV GSE programs it offers. “We’ve created a single, hybrid product,” he said. In addition to a high loan-to-value ratio, the program allows downpayment and closing costs to come from gifts and downpayment assistance programs. It also offers expanded income and credit guidelines. The need to expand access to credit has been a reoccurring theme in the industry, and Wells said it’s doing just that by considering FICO scores as low...
An issue over whether the government had the right to use executive privilege to keep thousands of documents from disclosure is the centerpiece of GSE lawsuits by investors.Fifty-three documents were made public last week and helps solidify their argument that there was no need to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie because they had more than enough capital to weather the financial crisis. The Treasury Department provided the documents to plaintiffs last week as part of a court case in Kentucky and some are calling the release a game-changer in terms of the anticipation of more documents being released. One of those high-ranking officials is Jim Parrott, former White House housing finance executive and now a fellow at the Urban Institute.
The Single Security is on target for implementation in Freddie Mac’s platform in 2017 and is set to reach the second stage in 2018, according to officials speaking at the Mortgage Bankers Association secondary market conference last week. David Applegate, CEO of Common Securitization Solutions, the joint venture owned by the GSEs that is building the Common Securitization Platform, said in 2018 Fannie Mae will switch its to-be-announced business to the CSP and begin issuing Single Securities that will be fully interchangeable with Freddie Single Securities. The GSE plans to use the CSP for all of its new mortgage-backed securities issues, including non-to-be-announced products such as securities backed by adjustable-rate mortgages, said Renee Schultz, senior vice president of capital markets at Fannie.
Financing for two- to four-unit properties has become difficult since the housing crisis and Laurie Goodman, codirector of the Housing Finance Policy Center, suggests the GSEs relax the loan-to-value ratios on those properties. When Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac tightened LTV requirements based on higher default rates on two- to four-unit properties, Goodman said in a new report, the GSEs may have “overcorrected." Lending for these properties was 5 to 6 percent of all single-family lending prior to 2009, said Goodman, but has since fallen to 2 to 3 percent of origination share. She blames the GSEs’ current higher loan-to-value lending requirement.
Ditech and HLP Principal-Reduction Outreach. Ditech Financial and Hope Loan Port collaborated to find distressed homeowners eligible for the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s new principal- reduction modification program. The two parties said HLP’s platform “is designed to integrate HUD-approved non-profit housing counselors seamlessly and securely with Ditech’s mortgage servicing operations, enabling counselors to more easily help homeowners who may qualify for the program.” Freddie’s Third NPL Transaction of 2016. This week Freddie Mac announced a $783 million non-performing loan transaction featuring seven pools, including two extended timeline pools targeting smaller investors. The NPLs are currently serviced by Bayview Loan Servicing, LLC. FHFA Request for Comment. The Federal Housing Finance Agency issued a request for comment this week for a host of technical...
Mortgage brokers grabbed a slightly bigger share of the originations market in the first quarter of 2016, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance ranking and analysis. Mortgage brokers generated an estimated $38 billion of new home loans during the first quarter, a modest 2.7 percent increase from the previous period. Meanwhile, correspondent production declined by 0.8 percent to an estimated $122 billion and retail originations weakened by 2.2 percent. There appeared...[Includes four data tables]
Although mortgage delinquency rates are once again at pre-crash levels, servicing costs continue to rise, leading some factions of the industry to ask whether Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should increase the standard 25 basis point fee they pay to their servicers. The issue of higher servicing compensation was raised by an individual lender during the audience Q&A at a panel featuring the top single-family executives of the two government-sponsored enterprises at last week’s secondary market conference sponsored by the Mortgage Bankers Association. Both noted that servicing has changed significantly since the housing crisis, and that the Federal Housing Finance Agency has directed them to review servicing compensation. Subsequent interviews conducted by Inside Mortgage Finance revealed...
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