New legal requirements enacted in the state of New York in the wake of the financial crisis pose particular compliance challenges for mortgage servicers, according to a new report by analysts at S&P Global Ratings. The S&P team recently reviewed a series of laws the state legislature passed in June that attempts to address several issues related to “zombie” foreclosures, which refers to the phenomenon of a servicer initiating foreclosure on a vacant property but not going so far as to actually take title. Urban community activists complain such properties languish unsold for a prolonged period of time, contributing to neighborhood blight in communities least able to handle it – hence, state lawmakers decided to act.One resulting requirement “imposes conditions ...
Commercial banks and savings institutions continued to load up on residential MBS during the second quarter of 2016, pushing their investment in the sector to a new high, according to a new analysis and ranking by Inside MBS & ABS. Banks and thrifts reported MBS holdings of $1.684 trillion as of the end of June, a 1.4 percent increase since the previous quarter. These are long-term holdings in banks’ held-to-maturity and available-for-sale portfolios. The industry held another $46.02 billion of MBS in their trading accounts. Not surprisingly, all of the gain came in agency MBS, particularly pass-through securities issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The industry’s aggregate holdings of these securities, $867.64 billion, were up 4.1 percent from the ...
Fitch Ratings released criteria for rating MBS backed by nonperforming loans late last week, saying it will cap ratings for such deals at “A” due to “the idiosyncratic and adverse-selection risk.” As mortgage performance has improved in recent years, issuance of MBS backed solely by nonperforming loans has been limited. However, Fitch said it considers a transaction as an NPL issuance if more than 10.0 percent of the collateral is 60+ days delinquent at the time of issuance. The rating service will require such MBS to meet a number of standards to receive a low investment-grade rating of “A” or “BBB,” including a sequential-pay structure and application of available funds to pay interest to the rated notes. “Absent these structural ...
With balances on non-agency MBS issued before the financial crisis falling to levels where clean-up calls can be initiated, clean-up call activity is rising with prospects for further growth. Rights to clean-up calls on non-agency MBS can typically be exercised when the outstanding balance of the MBS is lower than 10.0 percent of the original balance. The owner of the call rights (typically the master servicer) can purchase loans from the pool at par plus expenses and make a profit by selling or re-securitizing performing loans at a premium and retaining distressed loans to modify or liquidate. According to Bank of America Merrill Lynch, about 37 deals have been called this year totaling about $800 million in unpaid principal balance ...
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