The CFPB’s impact on the mortgage-backed security market remained a touchy subject at the SFIG Vegas conference last week. MBS investors are encouraged that the bureau is more willing to listen to industry participants, but they have concerns about assignee liability and grim predictions about increased regulation by the states. For a time after the CFPB implemented the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure rule, sales of non-agency mortgages were difficult to complete. TRID includes assignee liability ...

Removing civil public records has little effect on consumers’ credit scores, the CFPB found in the latest quarterly consumer credit trends report issued last week. The National Consumer Assistance Plan required the three nationwide credit reporting companies – Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion – to create minimum standards for personal information and reporting frequency for civil public records, including bankruptcies, civil judgement, and tax liens. The new standards were a product between the credit ...

February was another uneven month in terms of single-family business at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.The two GSEs issued a total of $61.04 billion of single-family MBS last month, a 9.5 percent drop from January. A decline in February is not unusual; it’s near the lull in the purchase-mortgage market and has fewer business days. But business levels at the two GSEs were not at all the same. Fannie MBS issuance was down 14.1 percent from January, while Freddie production was up 0.5 percent. Still, month-to-month variation in business flows are common in the GSE market. Fannie and Freddie are also in the process of implementing new capital regimes during the first quarter under the direction of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Participants in the MBS and ABS markets gathered in Las Vegas this week, trading stories about how well the market is operating while vendors handed out some surprisingly expensive gifts.

Real estate investment trusts that specialize in residential mortgage credit continued to add to their MBS holdings during the fourth quarter of 2017, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS ranking.

Rising interest rates can be a two-edged sword for MBS-investing real estate investment trusts: prepayment speeds will inevitably fall (the good), while new securities to buy could be in short supply thanks to lower originations in the primary market (the bad).

Ginnie Mae is exploring the possibility of loan-level credit risk sharing with the private sector on FHA-insured loans securitized through the agency, according to a top Ginnie Mae official.

Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt has less than 11 months left in his term, but already the speculation has begun regarding who the Trump administration might pick to succeed him.

Risk-sharing transactions from the government-sponsored enterprises are experiencing strong demand at issuance as well as in secondary trading. Officials at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac note that they’re working on further improvements for the Connecticut Avenue Securities and Structured Agency Credit Risk programs.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has broadened the scope of an exemption for registering as an investment company to include sponsors of multiple securities that hold whole mortgages.