The Federal Housing Finance Agency is exploring the possibilities of a streamlined lender-placed or “force-placed” insurance policy between Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. “FHFA is keenly interested in costs associated with force-placed insurance and related impacts to borrowers, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the taxpayer,” a Finance Agency spokesman told Inside The GSEs. “We are looking at policy related to force-placed insurance to see where there might be opportunities to reduce costs.” Some existing force-placed policies are controversial because they are sold by insurance companies owned by lenders or by insurers with which the lenders have a financial relationship.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have adopted a “common language” to improve and help ease lenders’ delivery of loans and appraisals to the government-sponsored enterprises. The GSEs’ full adoption of the Uniform Loan Delivery Dataset (ULDD) on July 23 establishes a common usage and standardizes most of the data required at the time of loan delivery, minimizing differences wherever possible. Freddie Mac hailed the new system as a “critical milestone” of the Uniform Mortgage Data Program, a joint GSE initiative to provide...

New home loan originations in the second quarter of 2012 were up 5.2 percent from the first three months of the year, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance ranking and analysis. Production trends varied significantly among the top lenders, however, and early estimates suggest that lenders further down the food chain may be picking up market share. Wells Fargo is still effectively lapping the field with more than double the origination volume of its nearest rival, but the industry leader managed a relatively modest 0.8 percent increase in production while its three closest competitors all reported double-digit gains. Although Wells may be mothballing some firepower by shutting down its wholesale broker business, the company was...[Includes two data charts]

The Federal Housing Finance Agency has hired PricewaterhouseCoopers to develop a plan for taking Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks into receivership. The FHFA reports it has entered into a contract with PricewaterhouseCoopers to create a blueprint for liquidating Fannie, Freddie or any of 12 Federal Home Loan Banks, if ever necessary. But it is all part of routine planning activity under the agency’s mission, said a spokesperson. “The FHFA has engaged in...

The Federal Housing Finance Agency has not “effectively employed” its monitoring and supervision of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac risk related to real estate owned properties, according to the FHFA’s Office of Inspector General. “The FHFA will benefit from a more comprehensive REO risk assessment and from using the assessment to enhance its planning and supervisory activities,” said the OIG. “A more comprehensive assessment of the risks associated with [Fannie’s and Freddie’s] shadow REO inventory can help the FHFA provide for the enterprises’ safety and soundness and help protect the taxpayers from undue losses by ensuring the agency focuses on its supervision where it can best mitigate risks.” From 2007 through 2011, the GSEs’ combined REO inventory rose...

In the proposed rule the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released two weeks ago addressing various issues associated with high-cost mortgages, the bureau revealed the most detail yet regarding a National Mortgage Database that’s been in development for the past two years. A 2010 report by the Government Accountability Office indicated officials from the Federal Reserve and representatives of Freddie Mac were working on such a database on a pilot basis. “The officials are exploring the feasibility...

Two of the three biggest barriers to a return of the non-agency mortgage sector – the premium capture cash reserve account and the qualified mortgage definition – are embedded in the Dodd-Frank Act, industry officials say. And the third is what’s not in the controversial law: any substantive reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The biggest challenge to reducing the government’s domination of the mortgage market is the lack of direction on the government-sponsored enterprises, said Tom Deutsch, executive director of the American Securitization Forum, during a hearing this week.

There is little to no chance of GSE reform bills moving any further in Congress during the remainder of the legislative year, say industry insiders who warn that the political priority for next year’s Congress will shift from restructuring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to scaling back the massive Dodd-Frank Act. For all the sound and fury surrounding Republican-led filing of 25 separate pieces of GSE legislation in the House and Senate during the 112th Congress, nearly all the bills, including six proposals considered “comprehensive” GSE reform, remain bottled up in committee.

The sooner the Federal Housing Finance Agency acts to clarify Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s positions on what triggers a loan repurchase request, the better it will be for lenders and for the recovery of the housing finance system, industry groups say. Over the past three years, the two GSEs have asked for more than $80 billion in flawed loan repurchases from lenders, prompting an overabundance of underwriting caution, according to Fitch Ratings. “Reduced uncertainty around the reasons as well as the timing and remedies available for repurchase may help ease lenders’ concerns and improve credit availability,” said Fitch. “Establishing clear and detailed repurchase standards, developing reporting and enforcement mechanisms and creating clear timelines that govern the process would be positive steps and would be welcome by lenders and investors alike.”

Freddie Mac announced this week that it has tapped a former JPMorgan Chase executive to serve as the GSE’s new head lawyer. William McDavid will start work next week as Freddie’s executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary. He replaces Alicia Myara, who has served as the GSE’s interim general counsel since November 2011. McDavid was co-general counsel for Chase from 2004 until he retired in 2006 and previously served solo as general counsel for several Chase predecessors going back to Chemical Bank in 1988.