The refrain from bank management was virtually unanimous: mortgage production dropped significantly and gain-on-sale margins narrowed. Although mortgage servicing right values continued to climb, that doesn’t always translate into improved earnings on that side of the business.
Is Ed DeMarco unimpressed with Fannie and Freddie's return to profitability? “…we should keep the recent reports of positive net income in perspective,” he told the audience of the Bipartisan Policy Center this week. “Much of it has been related to one-time adjustments..."
More than two years after it first filed its massive legal action against some of the nation’s largest financial institutions, the Federal Housing Finance Agency is demanding a high-cost exit fare before it will let two big banks off the hook. The FHFA reportedly is in separate talks with JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America to pay billions to quiet claims that the firms sold faulty mortgage-backed securities prior to the 2008 mortgage market meltdown. …
Although Fannie Mae has been pushing certain thinly capitalized nonbanks to its cash window for loan sales, it also wants to know why others that have the capital – and approvals – aren’t issuing mortgage-backed securities. A Fannie spokesman had this to say on the matter: “If not, why not? Maybe it’s time for us to have a conversation with them.”
Building on both GSEs’ recent risk-sharing transactions to achieve the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s $30 billion 2013 Conservatorship Scorecard target, the head of the FHFA said this week to expect more of the same as well as additional risk-sharing innovations. In a speech at the Bipartisan Policy Center, FHFA Acting Director Edward DeMarco said that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, in concert with the Finance Agency, are “planning for the scope and depth of risk-sharing transactions to continue and expand.”
Roughly 4,100 people have registered to attend the annual convention of the Mortgage Bankers Association, which launches Sunday night in Power City USA.
California was the biggest source of private MI loans for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but the state doesn’t dominate the GSE insured market the way it does in other measures.
U.S. prosecutors estimate that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac lost almost $850 million (gross) from Countrywide's "Hustle" program. However, at the time, BofA didn't even own CFC.
As directed by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac this year established a three-year sunset period for most reps and warrants on loans with perfect payment histories.
Speaking at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington Thursday afternoon, FHFA Acting Director Edward DeMarco gave no hint how much of a reduction might be in store. He also took no questions from the audience.
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