President Obama this week endorsed a reduction in the FHA’s high-cost loan limits and called on the Federal Housing Finance Agency and the Department of Housing and Urban Development to consider further decreases to reduce conforming loan limits. The proposal was included in a fact sheet that accompanied Obama’s speech this week on housing. The FHA’s high-cost loan limits are scheduled to be reduced at the end of this year. “HUD and FHFA should closely examine using their existing authorities to reduce ...
One of the last non-agency jumbo mortgage-backed securities issued before the securitization market effectively closed in 2008 is the subject of similar lawsuits by the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Bank of America issued the $855.7 million security in January 2008, as well as originated and serviced the loans included in the MBS. The regulators cite internal reports from BofA as well as email communications among employees to allege that BofA provided inadequate ...
Credit Suisse issued its latest non-agency jumbo mortgage-backed security last week and, in a change of pace, included a significant portion of 15-year fixed-rate mortgages in the deal. The $597 million CSMC Trust 2013-6 included mortgages that have seasoned for an average of three months with a weighted-average coupon of 3.56 percent, according to a rating report from DBRS. The seasoning on the mortgages wasn’t out of the ordinary compared with other recent issuance by Credit Suisse, but the average ...
The government-sponsored enterprises’ holdings of vintage nonprime mortgage-backed securities declined in the second quarter of 2013 due to sales as well as runoff. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are working toward the goal set by the Federal Housing Finance Agency to sell 5.0 percent of the non-agency and less liquid mortgage-related assets they held in their retained portfolios at the end of 2012. Combined, the government-sponsored enterprises held $96.48 billion in nonprime MBS as of ... [Includes one data chart]
A unique lawsuit against Morgan Stanley was recently allowed to move forward though legal analysts questioned the ruling. The lawsuit charges Morgan Stanley with racial discrimination, claiming that the investment bank violated the Fair Housing Act by encouraging New Century Financial to offer high-risk mortgages to African-American borrowers. Disparate impact cases typically target originators, but New Century is long out of business. Morgan Stanley was hit with the lawsuit because it was ...
Three non-agency mortgage-backed security trustees filed lawsuits this week against Richmond, CA, which plans to use eminent domain to purchase mortgages with negative equity. The city recently sent letters to servicers and trustees of non-agency MBS offering to purchase 624 mortgages. If the MBS trustees do not sell the loans for the offered price of 80 percent of the current value of the properties, Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin, a member of the Green Party, said the city intends to ...
The question of whether the FHA should allow the refinancing of underwater mortgages seized through eminent domain has reemerged as a key issue following a recent decision by the city of Richmond, CA, to use its authority to take over distressed mortgages for restructuring. There is a new twist to the question, however. Could FHA’s refusal to refinance such mortgages be deemed discriminatory against cities and homeowners if eminent domain programs meet the requirements of the FHA Short Refinance program? Is that tantamount to redlining? A top executive of Mortgage Resolution Partners, which developed the eminent domain strategy to help underwater homeowners at risk of foreclosure, said ...
Ginnie Mae has changed certain office names to reflect the activities and responsibilities of the office more accurately. For example, the Office of Mortgage-Backed Securities is now known as the Office of Issuer and Portfolio Management. The Office of Program Operations name also has been discarded in favor of the Office of Securities Operations. The MBS Guide, including the summary of addresses and all forms and appendices, has been updated to reflect the office name changes. In addition, the address for overnight delivery of new MBS issuer applications ...
According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, FHA has nearly exhausted its $25 billion authority for FY 2013 to insure multifamily, risk share and health care programs.
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