Although 22 large investors and Bank of America think they reached a reasonable deal to resolve massive buyback claims on some $221 billion of outstanding Countrywide non-agency MBS, some outside analysts and other investors aren’t so sure. The pending agreement, which has to be approved by the court, requires Bank of America to pay $8.5 billion that would be distributed according to the deals that suffered the biggest losses. In return, the bank would get significant ...

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is ready to take mortgage servicing by the lapels when it formally opens on July 21, according to an official testifying at a House Financial Services Committee hearing this week – calling the initiative a “priority” for the new agency that faces a heavy load of new duties and authorities. One of the flaws in the regulatory structure is the lack of federal servicing standards, said Raj Date, associate director of depositor and consumer protection at the new agency. Servicing has been a key issue in some MBS investor lawsuits, and many have ...

Fitch Ratings has updated its criteria for non-agency MBS, making changes to its standards for representations and warranties, due diligence and originator reviews to better determine credit risk for new issues. Three separate reports released last week revise existing criteria the rating agency created in 2008. “Originator reviews, loan-level due diligence results, and the quality of representations and war-ranties to a transaction are key elements of ...

Ally Financial, Inc., a major mortgage and automotive lender, said it expects to take a second-quarter charge of approximately $100 million for mortgage losses incurred by certain securitization trusts even as it disclosed new investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice. Ally made the disclosures in an amended prospectus filed with the SEC recently proposing the sale of $100 million shares of the company’s common stock. According to the disclosure, $152 million was paid to the trusts during the second quarter to cover ...

Washington Mutual and its former officers, directors, underwriters and auditor late last week agreed to a $208.5 million settlement on one of the largest class-action lawsuits stemming from the financial crisis, according to court documents. In exchange, the plaintiffs would dismiss all claims against the defendants. The lead plaintiff and lead counsel said that this proposed settlement represents “an excellent result and are in the best interests of the class,” according to court documents. The case was consolidated from about 20 plaintiffs who claimed the bank quietly reduced lending standards to inflate home-price appraisals and was not open with customers when loans began to fail

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac issued $154.95 billion in single-family mortgage-backed securities during the second quarter of 2011, a 40.6 percent drop from the first three months of the year.The recent April-June cycle represented the second straight quarterly decline in business volume since the fourth quarter 2010 surge when the two GSEs issued $331.5 billion in MBS.

It would be “wholly inappropriate” for the Treasury Department and the Federal Housing Finance Agency to permit Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to pursue a potential role in a new yet-to-be-launched $2 billion bond program, according to the top Republican members of the House Financial Services Committee.In an effort to shut down thoughts of potential expansion of the two government-sponsored enterprises into a new line of business, Committee Chairman Spencer Bachus, R-AL, Vice Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-TX, and four of the committee’s subcommittee chairman dispatched a letter last week to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and FHFA Acting Director Edward DeMarco to express their “concern.”

Another bipartisan bill to overhaul the federal mortgage finance system introduced by two House members this week would eliminate but effectively merge Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, replacing the two GSEs with a “secondary market facility” that would issue and guarantee mortgage-backed securities.The bill, H.R. 2413, the Secondary Market Facility for Residential Mortgages Act of 2011, would create a single entity, owned by the federal government, that would issue MBS. The MBS would have an explicit government guarantee paid for by a guarantee fee set by the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac recorded significant declines in the volume of single-family mortgages they securitized during the second quarter of 2011, according to a new analysis and ranking based on the Inside Mortgage Finance GSE MarketScope. The two government-sponsored enterprises generated a combined $155.0 billion in single-family mortgage-backed securities during the second quarter, down a hefty 40.6 percent from the first three months of the year. It was the slowest quarter in Fannie/Freddie MBS output since the final three months of 2008, the low ... [includes 3 data charts]

Bank of America’s hefty $8.5 billion offer to settle representations and warranties claims on Countrywide non-agency MBS will help the bank move past a big chunk of its mortgage woes while giving investors in the worst-performing deals a positive jolt. BofA announced separate agreements with Bank of New York Mellon, the trustee for some 530 non-agency MBS issued...[Includes one data chart]