To streamline the mortgage process Freddie Mac recently approved a handful of mortgage vendors that sellers/servicers can use to have promissory note documents digitally signed. The mortgage industry has been behind when it comes to utilizing technology but Freddie is hoping to expedite the process by publishing a list of pre-approved eMortgage vendors. The list highlights vendors that have met its minimum functional, legal and security review requirements for creating, signing and storing electronic promissory notes. These eNotes detail the repayment obligation of the borrower to the lender. While sellers typically don’t need special approval to use electronic documents as long as their procedures meet the GSEs’ requirements, Samuel Oliver III, vice president of transformation management for the single-family business at...

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac recently requested to withdraw from the Ireland and Luxembourg markets, citing increased regulation that’s almost impossible for certain companies to comply with. Freddie asked that its debt and mortgage securities and Structured Agency Credit Risk debt notes be delisted from those two markets in the European Union on Nov. 30.  …

Two pending mortgage lawsuits involving the Federal Housing Finance Agency, spawned by the housing crisis, have been winding down in recent weeks. One includes a win for Bank of America and the other includes oral arguments in an appeal by Nomura Holdings and the Royal Bank of Scotland. The Department of Justice had until Nov. 21 to appeal an earlier ruling in which BofA, defending practices of Countrywide Financial, got out of having to pay more than $1 billion in penalties to the FHFA. Instead of appealing to the Supreme Court, the DOJ quietly let the deadline slip away. In 2014, a federal judge ordered the bank to pay $1.2 billion in civil penalties.

DU Day 1 Certainty Begins. On Dec.10 components of Fannie Mae’s Day 1 Certainty initiative become effective. Day 1, announced in October, gives customers freedom from representation and warranties on key aspects of the mortgage origination process through Fannie’s Desktop Underwriter platform. Asset and employment validation as well as Collateral Underwriter freedom from reps and warrants for appraisals begins Dec. 10. Fannie Prices Latest CAS CRT Deal. Last week, Fannie Mae priced its latest credit risk sharing transaction under its Connecticut Avenue Securities program. CAS Series 2016-C07, a $701.7 million note offering, was scheduled to settle on Dec. 8, 2016.

With rates rising almost 75 basis points since the election, more MSR packages should hit the market in the next few weeks.

Have any of the GSE stock speculators that bought on the cheap cashed out of their gains?

The one weak spot in the mortgage market during the third quarter was in traditional jumbo originations, a trend that was reinforced by a significant increase in production of agency mortgages in high-cost markets that exceeded $417,000. An estimated $101.0 billion of non-agency jumbo home loans were originated during the third quarter, down 1.9 percent from the previous quarter. At the same time, production of conforming-jumbo mortgages – loans greater than $417,000 that were securitized by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae – jumped 27.7 percent from the second to the third quarter. Some of the disparity is...[Includes three data tables]

Despite higher interest rates, publicly traded mortgage stocks have been rising since the election, but market watchers are cautious that recent gains could evaporate quickly. “Two things are going on here,” said Henry Coffey, an equities analyst at Wedbush Securities. “We’ve had a massive market rally, especially in financial stocks. But the general consensus is that the new administration is going to be less punitive than the current one.” Coffey added...[Includes one data table]

Fannie Mae has not treated its foreclosed properties in African-American and Latino communities the same as those in predominately white neighborhoods, according to a federal lawsuit filed this week by the National Fair Housing Alliance. The NFHA, along with 20 fair housing and civil rights groups, said its investigation found signs of racial discrimination when it comes to the upkeep and marketing of Fannie’s real estate-owned properties in 38 metropolitan areas across the country. These properties in minority neighborhoods were blighted...

Two weeks back, United Wholesale Mortgage removed a 25 basis point charge it levied on conventional conforming loans when the borrower opts to manage his or her own real estate taxes and homeowners insurance. (Those payment chores are usually handled by the servicer.) Since making the change, escrow waivers have jumped 12 percent at the nation’s largest wholesaler/broker lender. Company CEO Mat Ishbia declared that other lenders should follow suit if they haven’t already. “I think that overall this is good for the industry as a whole,” he said in an interview. For now, the reaction to UWM’s fee waiver has been...