Although the Federal Housing Finance Agency said that Freddie Mac failed to meet all of its goals for low-income homebuyers in 2014, the GSE apparently has put the wheels in motion to meet its target for 2015. But Sen. Bob Menendez, D-NJ, ranking member of the Senate Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation and Community Development, wrote the FHFA asking why the goals fell by the wayside.Don Layton, Freddie’s CEO, told Inside The GSEs that the GSE has been working since early in the year to make sure those goals are met. Those preparations included the hiring of Danny Gardner in March, who leads a new unit specializing in affordable housing.

  FHFA Debuts FHFA Insights Blog. This week the Federal Finance Housing Agency launched a new blog titled FHFA Insights. The blog, located on the agency’s website, is designed to serve as a resource for a wide range of stakeholders, including homeowners, renters, policy makers, media and the general public. The FHFA’s most recent blog entry this week focuses on the expansion of the Neighborhood Stabilization Initiative which went into effect Dec. 1. …

At the same time, credit standards – at least in the agency market – have eased only slightly over the past two years...

Now that President Obama has signed legislation to cap Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac CEO pay, which GSE chief will leave first?

Most mortgage lenders reported a significant uptick in purchase-mortgage originations during the third quarter of 2015, though there is little sign that originators are lowering credit standards to stimulate more business. According to revised estimates by Inside Mortgage Finance, purchase-mortgage originations climbed 10.7 percent from the second to the third quarter of this year, hitting $280 billion. At that level, the purchase market was the strongest it has been since the third quarter of 2007. At the same time, credit standards – at least in the agency market – have eased...[Includes two data tables]

Fannie Mae last week updated its policies to allow seller/servicers to pledge a transfer of interest in their servicing income as collateral. Now Fannie, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae have three different approaches for the pledge of servicing income and/or servicing advances. David Fleig, president and CEO of MorVest Capital, an investment firm, noted that the update by Fannie follows a move by Ginnie. Last year, Ginnie started allowing issuers to pledge servicing income without notifying Ginnie. Fannie’s new policy requires...

Although most of the heavy lifting in writing new rules for the mortgage industry has passed, federal regulators still have some significant projects in the works, according to recently released semiannual regulatory agendas. The Federal Housing Finance Agency expects to release a proposed “duty-to-serve” regulation for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by the end of this year. The rulemaking was mandated by the 2008 Housing and Economic Recovery Act but hasn’t gotten much attention since the agency published an advance notice of proposed rulemaking back in August 2009. The FHFA is...

G-fees were tapped in a recent highway transportation bill, but eventually the language was stripped from the measure…

HomeUnion Lending is licensed to operate in Alabama, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, and Oklahoma, but plans on expanding its reach to 16 more states by the end of March 2016.

Xome isn't exactly Uber, said one Nationstar critic...