Morgan Stanley notes: “The agreement in principle is subject to final approvals by the parties. In connection with the settlement, the company will record an addition to legal reserves of $150 million, which will have the impact of reducing income..."

Treasury’s “Third Amendment” to the PSPA – which replaced the quarterly GSE dividend payment with a “net worth sweep” of all company profits – was the culmination of a calculated administration effort, according to former Solicitor General Ted Olson.

The starting salary for the CEO is said to be about $450,000 plus benefits, which is roughly double what the new director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Mel Watt, earns.

A veteran player in the jumbo ARM market said one investment bank in particular has “had lots of layoffs.”

Consumer advocate Ralph Nader has spent years demanding satisfaction for GSE shareholders from the Obama administration, regulators and members of Congress.

Industry advisors briefed on the servicing project noted that changing the minimum 25 basis point servicing fee has some firms on edge.

It's nice to know that some lenders are willing to take on risk. Check out the new FHA/VA product from New Penn Financial: a 560 FICO minimum.

The qualified mortgage is here, and while the rotation of the earth has yet to slow, there are still several areas of the regulation that are not crystal clear to much of the industry, including some questions having to do with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac purchases of mortgages being originated under the new regime. For instance, “If lenders bake the loan-level price adjustments into the interest rate, are they allowed to show those adjustments to the originator? If they show them, will the CFPB count them into the points and fees?” asked Tammy...

Although the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac common securitization platform is now legally incorporated, has a signed lease for office space in suburban Maryland and is growing staff, it still doesn’t have a chief executive and chairman – two essentials to be taken seriously by the market. “It’s pretty much turned into the mess I suspected it would a year ago,” said one former candidate for the CEO job, who spoke under the condition his name not be used. Discussing the chairman position, he added...

DOJ’s initial penalty calculation was based on the gross loss to Fannie and Freddie from the default of the loans, but now the government says the court should use gross gain, instead of net gain to set the maximum allowable penalty.