The Federal Housing Finance Agency this week directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to provide a lot more transparency in the fledgling process of selling nonperforming loans, or NPLs, and to make sure borrowers are taken care of in the process. Freddie this week announced details on its second NPL sale; Fannie has not yet done such a transaction. But both government-sponsored enterprises are expected to emphasize selling their less-liquid assets, such as NPLs and non-agency mortgage securities, as they continue to downsize their retained portfolios. The new guidelines cover...

The bid price for “flow” mortgage servicing rights is beginning to soften, having fallen from the peaks seen in the summer of 2014, according to both investors and certain advisors running the deals. But if a buyer of flow product is looking for bargains, it’s not likely to happen anytime soon. In other words, prices have drifted down, but are hardly cheap. In fact, a handful of sources contend that Nationstar Mortgage – one of the most active flow buyers of the past year – has ceased...

The nation’s top consumer regulator told lawmakers the bureau has already provided an extended implementation period of 21 months...

“If something goes wrong, Ocwen will be on the hook,” said this source. “But it’s really clean stuff.”

With little non-agency MBS issuance, Collingwood noted that it’s difficult to accurately price credit risk.

The identity of the bank could not be confirmed at press time...

Freddie had 4,957 full-time employees and 50 part-timers as of Feb. 5, down 2.1 percent compared to a year ago.

Pretium won pools one and two, which have a combined loan balance of $238.6 million.

Meanwhile, Ocwen watchers are scratching their heads over a fourth quarter goodwill charge that eventually could reach $420 million...

A spokesman for Ocwen declined to comment on the “controlled liquidation” characterization and could offer no time table on when the lender/servicer might release its fourth quarter results.