The Federal Housing Finance Agency became the biggest opponent of proposals for local governments to use eminent domain to seize underwater loans from non-agency mortgage-backed securities. “FHFA has determined that action may be necessary on its part to avoid a risk to safe and sound operations at its regulated entities and to avoid taxpayer expense,” the conservator of the government-sponsored enterprises said in response to the proposed use of eminent domain to forgive principal on mortgages ...

Bank and thrift holdings of residential MBS changed very little in the second quarter of 2012, although the portfolios of several of the biggest depository institution investors revealed substantial changes from the previous period. A new Inside MBS & ABS analysis of call report data showed a 1.5 percent decline in total residential MBS held by banks and thrifts during the second quarter. After hitting a record $1.634 trillion as of the end of March, banks and thrifts reported $1.610 trillion in MBS in their held-to-maturity and available-for-sale portfolios as of the end of June. Even with the decline since March, bank and thrift MBS holdings were...[Includes two data charts]

Standard & Poor’s announced late last week that it updated the criteria for ratings on non-agency MBS with mortgage collateral originated before 2009. The new standards are effective immediately and will result in significantly more downgrades than upgrades, according to S&P analysts. The standards update criteria for credit, cash flows and rating stability, and introduce new methods for analyzing transactions that have fewer than 100 loans remaining in the pool. Vandana Sharma, a managing director and lead analytic manager for U.S. residential MBS ratings at S&P, said the new standards reflect key market trends. “In light of the stabilization of home prices and delinquencies in the U.S. mortgage market, these criteria seek...

Top-tier, highly liquid consumer ABS are still attractive investments in today’s market, owing to strong technical factors and solid fundamentals, according to Barclays Capital. “Traditional consumer ABS continue to enjoy status as a safe haven asset class, especially in times of broader market volatility, and are an excellent cash surrogate for investors looking to put excess cash to work,” wrote research analyst Joseph Astorina, who cited the sector’s stable cash flow and ratings profiles, as well as consistent excess returns over swaps and Treasuries. In addition, this sector is...

Ginnie Mae is reportedly considering increasing its minimum net worth requirement in response to an onslaught of requests by smaller banks for new issuer approvals. Quoting agency officials, reports indicate that Ginnie Mae is being swamped with applications from smaller mortgage lenders seeking authority to issue agency-backed mortgage backed securities. With large aggregators like Bank of America, MetLife and Ally Financial opting out of the correspondent and reverse mortgage businesses, many smaller lenders lost access to the Ginnie Mae program. However, many of these lenders are stepping into the breach on their own or with partners to ...

Chase Home Finance knocked Bank of America off its second-place perch and joined top-ranked Wells Fargo as the dominant Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities issuers in 2012, according to the Inside Mortgage Finance Database. Together, Wells Fargo and Chase accounted for 53.3 percent of the $100.6 billion Ginnie Mae MBS market in the second quarter of 2012, which grew 24.4 percent from the first quarter and a whopping 42.2 percent from the same period a year ago. Wells led with $42.6 billion and a commanding 42.2 percent piece of the Ginnie Mae MBS market, thanks to ... ( 2 charts)

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is working in tandem with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to align servicing standards for both FHA and non-FHA mortgage loans. In a statement issued after the CFPB’s recent issuance of proposed national mortgage servicing standards, HUD underscored the importance of uniform servicing standards. “Given CFPB’s rulemaking, HUD does think it is important to not revise its servicing rules in a vacuum but to consider the work being done by the CFPB,” he said. “To that end, HUD is in communication with the CFPB and reviewing their materials.” The department is collaborating with an ...

The recent enactment of the Honoring America’s Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act of 2012 includes a number of changes to the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Loan Guaranty program, including reverting to the VA’s previous method of calculating maximum guaranty. The restoration of the previous method used to derive VA loan limits has resulted in the increase of some loan limits, according to guidance issued by the agency last week. While VA does not have a maximum loan amount, “county limits” must be used to calculate the maximum VA guaranty for a particular county. The maximum VA loan limit for 2012 in high-cost areas is ...

The rising delinquency rates for FHA-insured mortgage loans could spell trouble down the road for the FHA as it struggles to shore up its dwindling loss reserves, according to a new Fitch Ratings analysis. But the chief economist for the Mortgage Bankers Association has a slightly different take on that issue. Fitch analyst Brian Bertsch said a growing gap between seriously delinquent (90-day past due) guaranteed and non-guaranteed loans could presage future losses that could prompt the FHA to restrict loss claims and force banks to buy back defaulted loans. This could be the scenario ...

Ocwen Financial Corp. and joint venture partner Altisource will soon be buying FHA-insured loans from lenders through a special vehicle, Correspondent One, for future securitization. In its second quarter filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Ocwen said it expects Correspondent One will be able to use its relationship with Lenders One to grow its volume substantially. “Correspondent One has seen significant, positive environmental changes in the correspondent lending market, [and] there has been a contraction in correspondent lending,” Ocwen said, alluding to ...