Despite House passage of an immigration bill that would squeeze revenue from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guaranty fees, the measure doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere in the Senate but industry groups remain wary of future attempts to pickpocket the GSEs. Two weeks ago, the House passed H.R. 6429, the STEM Jobs Act of 2012, which would provide visas for qualified workers in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). …
In what has become an annual tradition, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac each announced last week that all foreclosure-related evictions of single-family and two-to-four unit properties are suspended nationwide until after the New Year. “We are instructing our foreclosure attorneys to suspend pending eviction lockouts on foreclosed homes in order to provide a greater measure of certainty to families during the holiday season,” said Tracy Mooney, Freddie’s senior vice president of servicing and REO.
Industry groups are lukewarm but supportive overall of the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s efforts to modernize Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s securitization process but they remain concerned about changing servicing models, according to comment letters submitted to the agency. In September, the FHFA in a white paper proposed a framework for both a common securitization platform and a model pooling and servicing agreement with a request for public comment. The proposed infrastructure has “two complementary goals” – to replace the outmoded proprietary infrastructures of the GSEs with a common, more efficient model and to establish a framework that’s consistent with multiple states of housing finance reform, including greater participation of private capital in assuming credit risk.
The federal judge in charge of overseeing the multiple lawsuits filed by the Federal Housing Finance Agency against non-agency mortgage-backed securities issuers for allegedly misrepresenting deals that were sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac rebuffed yet another motion by the banks to curtail the suits. Last week, Judge Denise Cote of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Manhattan rejected a motion to exclude an expert report describing the Finance Agency’s proposed…
MGIC Investment Corp. announced it has met all its obligations to Freddie Mac, formally putting an end to the mortgage insurer’s dispute with the GSE over pool MI coverage. MGIC Investment Corp. this week transferred $100 million to its subsidiary, Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corporation to maintain approval from Freddie to sell coverage as part of the overall $267.6 million settlement agreement. All other conditions by Freddie to continue the GSE’s approval of MGIC Indemnity Corp. (MIC) as a limited mortgage insurer are satisfied through Dec. 31, 2013, according to MGIC Chairman and CEO Curt Culver.
As part of negotiations regarding the fiscal cliff, the Obama administration and Democrats in the House are seeking principal reduction loan modifications for borrowers with negative equity. The Treasury Department has reportedly proposed a program targeting borrowers with mortgages in non-agency mortgage-backed securities while the debate about principal forgiveness for loans held by the government-sponsored enterprises has also been rekindled. The Obama administration would neither confirm nor deny the non-agency proposal, but details regarding the Market Rate Modification program have prompted talk among industry participants and a detailed analysis. “In order to assist...
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac this month completed implementation of the latest round of guaranty fee hikes, this one mandated by their regulator as a move to reduce the footprint of the government-sponsored enterprises and draw more private capital into the mortgage market. Experts say the 10 basis point fee hike will have a slight positive impact in the near term, but future moves in the same direction could help close the gap between agency and non-agency mortgage-backed securities. The Federal Housing Finance Agency ordered the GSEs to raise g-fees by 10 bps for cash deliveries starting in November, and for MBS transactions beginning in December. At the time, the FHFA said...
In a development that might catch the attention of officials at the CFPB who are working on improving consumer disclosures under the Real Estate Settlement and Procedures Act and the Truth In Lending Act, more evidence has emerged that consumers aren’t very big on using TILA forms to comparison shop for mortgages.A new study from Fannie Mae found that nearly half of lower‐income respondents and more than a third of higher‐income respondents get quotes from only one mortgage lender. The survey also confirms findings in other reports that “a substantial portion of all consumers do not understand key mortgage elements.”
MBS industry groups generally support the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s plan to develop a single securitization platform and model pooling and servicing agreements for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But they question whether a standardized system will for the non-agency MBS market or risk-sharing arrangements envisioned for the government-sponsored enterprises. The FHFA has been pushing the two GSEs to standardize their securitization operations in recent years, including uniform data delivery requirements, consistent servicing rules and, most recently, a new framework for seller representations and warranties that will go into effect in January. The agency wants...
New issuance of agency MBS jumped dramatically in November, hitting its highest monthly production volume in over three years, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS ranking and analysis. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae combined for a whopping $199.34 billion in new single-family MBS during November, a 46.4 percent jump from the previous month. It was the highest monthly agency MBS output since June 2009, when $232.13 billion of MBS were issued. The November surge may reflect...[Includes one data chart]
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