The suit was filed in December 2012 on behalf of hundreds of thousands of investors who bought stock in an offering by Fannie in May 2008, four months before the GSE was taken over by the government.
Freddie Mac is rolling out a new version of an old mortgage security product designed to distribute the credit risk of borrowers paying back their mortgages to the private markets. The government-sponsored enterprise has begun marketing a new product, the Structured Agency Credit Risk security, which is designed to lay off credit risk to the private capital market on a scalable basis without impacting the TBA market or increasing counterparty risk. Freddie attempted a similar product in 1998 before deciding it was a failure. A Freddie spokesman said...
Rep. Mel Watt, D-NC, did himself no favors nor did he appear to win any new votes by turning in a lackluster performance at his confirmation hearing last week, but industry observers say President Obama’s nominee to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency could yet win Senate confirmation … with time. Both in his prepared testimony and during questioning by members of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, Watt placed a heavy emphasis on his biographical details, but he was light on mortgage-finance policy specifics. Republicans, as expected, politely hammered the Congressman on his technical qualifications, as well as his political independence, to serve a five-year term as the FHFA’s first permanent director.
Sponsors of the highly anticipated, bipartisan Senate legislation intended to reform the mortgage-finance system without Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac unveiled their final proposal last week.But with reform of the FHA more politically urgent and a more radical House bill waiting in the wings, even the Senate bill’s most avid industry supporters don’t expect the measure to gain much political traction in the near term.
Citigroup this week unveiled a $968 million legal settlement with Fannie Mae to cover current “potential future repurchase claims” for breaches of representations and warranties on 3.7 million first liens originated between 2000 and 2012. According to a statement issued by the nation’s sixth largest home lender, almost all of the money that will be paid to the GSE is “covered by Citi's existing mortgage repurchase reserves.”
Legislation filed in the House two weeks ago would require the Treasury Department to once again amend its agreement with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to allow the GSEs to pay down the billions of taxpayer dollars the companies received while in government conservatorship.Under the Let the GSEs Pay US Back Act of 2013, H.R. 2435, – sponsored by Rep. Michael Capuano, D-MA – the GSE senior preferred stock purchased by the Treasury would no longer accrue dividends, as is the current practice.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac forked over a combined $66.4 billion in dividends to the U.S. Treasury at the end of June with more payments – though not as large – expected for quarters to come. Fannie paid the Treasury Department roughly $59.4 billion, while Freddie paid about $7.0 billion. A large chunk of Fannie's recent profits are tied to “deferred tax assets” which involve the recapture of money originally given to the GSE by Treasury to bolster its capital position.
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