A senior Treasury Department official pushed back against the idea of rehabilitating the two government-sponsored enterprises, noting in a speech late last week that the firms cannot be re-capitalized and reiterating the Obama administration’s commitment to wind down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Mary Miller, the Treasury’s undersecretary for domestic finance, said that even if the two GSEs were allowed to stay in business and build up capital, it could take “at least” 20 years to recapitalize Fannie and Freddie. “During these 20 years, the taxpayer would remain...

Sources tell IMFnews that the Federal Housing Finance Agency is looking into the matter and is promoting the idea of capital minimums for nonbanks that do business with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The agency MBS market did grow by a slight 0.1 percent during the first quarter, but all of the credit goes to Ginnie Mae.

In a few weeks, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will release second quarter results, likely posting positive earnings, but the revenue figures will not include any major boost from legal settlements or the recapture of previously set-aside loan loss reserves. In short, what the two government-sponsored enterprises report in earnings for the second quarter should reflect what their operating profits might look like going forward, given normal market conditions. However, over the past six months, the CEOs of Fannie and Freddie and top officials at the Treasury Department – the owner of its senior preferred shares – have consistently argued...

Investors Unite is urging the FHFA not manage Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as "non-profits."

The market for large packages of “legacy” mortgage servicing rights is ice cold these days, throwing a monkey wrench into the aggressive growth plans of Ocwen Financial, Walter Investment Management and Nationstar Mortgage. The reason is simple: regulatory scrutiny from the New York Department of Financial Services of Ocwen’s planned purchase of $39 billion in highly delinquent MSRs from Wells Fargo has dampened both auctions and sales. “Legacy packages are still out there,” said one buyer of mortgage receivables, “but I don’t see many of them and they’re not very large.” He added...

Barring the discovery of a skeleton in his closet, Julian Castro’s nomination for secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development appears to be a lock in the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. Appearing before the committee this week, Castro, a three-term mayor of San Antonio, TX, laid out his priorities for HUD if confirmed. He said he would emphasize working closely with agencies as well as the value of “measuring results” by setting precise goals, public consultation, development of a public report card and annual updates – tools he employed in his municipal housing education and affordable housing initiatives in San Antonio. Castro said...

Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s housing goal performance exceeded the benchmark levels for all of the single-family and multifamily goals set for the two government-sponsored enterprises in 2012, but preliminary figures show that Freddie is struggling to hit the mark for 2013, according to a new Federal Housing Finance Agency report. The FHFA’s annual report to Congress, released late last week, reveals official figures on each GSE’s goal performance in 2012 and preliminary data on goal performance in 2013. Both GSEs hit...[Includes one data chart]

He may know how to run a decent race, but does economics professor David Brat – the man who beat Rep. Eric Cantor in the GOP primary in Virginia – know the history of the mortgage meltdown?

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray came under sustained partisan criticism from Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee this week over the joint National Mortgage Database the CFPB is working on with the Federal Housing Finance Agency. “We have learned since Director Cordray was last before the committee that the joint database project by the CFPB and the FHFA will undeniably collect personally identifiable information on millions of Americans in the National Mortgage Database,” said Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-TX. “I’m not speaking merely of names, addresses and phone numbers – though the database will certainly include those – but shockingly also people’s Social Security numbers, their race, religion, personal financial information, and even the GPS coordinates of their homes. If this is not considered personally identifiable information by the CFPB, then I don’t know what is.” A breach of this database could cause...