Springleaf Finance continues to consider an initial public offering for its real estate investment trust as a way to refinance a portion of its business to pay off debts. The Springleaf REIT filed for an IPO in May and while investor demand has not been overwhelming, the company maintains that it is still considering going public. “The REIT will be primarily engaged in the business of sourcing, screening and acquiring performing whole loans secured by mortgages on residential real estate,” Springleaf Finance said ...

Officials with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau once again stressed the need for regulation of alternative mortgages this week. However, the performance of such “risky” loans continues to be debated among consumer advocates and economists. “In the lead up to the crisis, when a competitor began to steal market share – or to earn outsize profits – by introducing products like option ARMs or no-doc loans, the pressure to follow suit was intense,” Raj Date, special advisor to the Treasury on the CFPB, said ...

Contrary to what critics claim about the recent increase in the FHA’s loan limits, high-balance mortgage loans insured by FHA have shown historically lower delinquency rates and, therefore, pose no significant risk to taxpayers or the FHA Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund, said Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan. Notwithstanding the agency’s opposition to legislation reinstating the pre-Oct. 1 temporary maximum loan limits for FHA, Donovan said early evidence, so far, shows that high-balance loans perform better than other FHA-insured loans. Last month, Congress enacted legislation reinstating ...

Jumbo lenders do not expect the higher FHA loan limits to have any adverse impact on their GSE business. Anyone seeking a loan above $625,500 only has one choice, and that is FHA, but the real question is how much business the conventional market would lose to FHA, lenders said. In addition to the higher loan limit, the FHA insures loans of more than 80 percent loan-to-value ratio and requires a 3.5 percent downpayment. The GSEs require a 20 percent downpayment on their jumbos. On the other hand, the private market offers loans above the GSE limits but does not originate loans in excess of 80 percent LTV. “For people seeking under-80 LTV loans, it is unlikely that ... [Includes one data chart]

The decision to restore “emergency” high-cost loan limits for the FHA, but not for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, will likely have a negligible impact on the government-sponsored enterprises, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis of agency jumbo mortgage activity. During the first nine months of 2011, single-family loans exceeding $625,500 – the top GSE loan amount for high-cost markets since Oct. 1 – accounted for an infinitesimal 1.5 percent of Freddie Mac’s total single-family securitization. Although the FHA can resume insuring...(Includes three data charts)

The outstanding supply of subprime mortgages in the market continued to decline in the third quarter, but three special servicers significantly increased their portfolios, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. The growing servicers – Ocwen Financial, Nationstar Mortgage and Walter Investment Management – all focus on high-touch servicing. Special servicing is in particularly high demand as banks have started to sell their subprime holdings, a trend expected to...

The high-cost loan limits for FHA mortgages will be re-elevated to $729,750 through at least the end of 2013 while the government-sponsored enterprises’ loan limits will remain unchanged under appropriations legislation approved by Congress this week. Industry participants suggest that the FHA’s newly higher loan limits will have little impact on non-agency jumbo activity. The revised FHA loan limits were included in “mini-bus” appropriations legislation for the Department of Housing and Urban Development and other federal agencies. The bill – which also contained a Continuing Resolution to avoid a government shutdown – was...

The National Credit Union Administration this week reached settlements with two underwriters of non-agency mortgage-backed securities. The settlements also have implications for non-agency MBS issuers and underwriters facing lawsuits from the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Deutsche Bank Securities agreed to pay the NCUA $145.0 million to reduce losses associated with five failed credit unions. Citigroup also agreed to pay the NCUA $20.5 million to settle similar charges. The settlements included terms stating that the issuers did not admit fault. NCUA Board Chairman Debbie Matz warned that the settlements are...

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s recent proposal to revamp servicer compensation has received mixed reactions from non-agency participants. High-touch servicers approve of the landscape-shifting fee-for-service proposal but analysts suggest that the system would be much more difficult to establish for non-agency mortgages than for agency loans. Ocwen Financial and other servicers that predominantly handle delinquent mortgages favor the FHFA’s proposal that would significantly increase the fees paid to service delinquent loans and lower the base servicing fee for performing loans, perhaps to...

Mortgage real estate investment trusts, along with investors, urged the Securities and Exchange Commission to maintain certain exemptions for mortgage REITs or risk further housing finance issues. REITs are seen as key in efforts to reduce the federal government’s current support of mortgage finance. “Mortgage-focused real estate investment trusts, such as Redwood, are well-suited to carry out this key mortgage banking business function,” said Andrew Stone, general counsel for Redwood Trust. “However, these companies need to continue to be able to rely on the [SEC] exclusion in order to efficiently and effectively carry out...