DBRS and Standard & Poor’s separately issued revised criteria for rating non-agency mortgage-backed securities in recent weeks. DBRS will give slightly more credit to jumbo MBS due to strong performance in recent years, while S&P adjusted modeling relating to home price trends. DBRS noted that from 2010 through the end of April, $32.1 billion in jumbo MBS had been issued, with only one deal taking any losses to date, a 0.04 percent loss. “Positive loan attributes ...
A final rule issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding third-party due diligence providers and rating services takes effect on June 15. The rule is set to prompt a number of changes in the non-agency mortgage-backed security market, largely targeting transparency. For MBS that receive ratings, public disclosure of results from third-party due diligence reviews will be required before a deal is priced. The disclosure requirement even applies to deals issued as private placements, which is the current practice for jumbo MBS ...
The Supreme Court last week issued a ruling that favors second-lien holders in cases involving negative equity and Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Industry analysts caution that Supreme Court justices look eager to rule differently if a similar case reaches the court. The cases considered were Bank of America v. Caulkett and Bank of America v. Toledo-Cardona. In both cases, borrowers in a negative equity position on their second liens sought to void the second liens ...
Ocwen Financial’s servicing of certain mortgages in non-agency mortgage-backed securities remains at risk due to a downgrade watch issued last week by Standard & Poor’s. Officials at Ocwen said they were surprised by the announcement while noting that Moody’s Investors Service upgraded various ratings relating to the nonbank. S&P said it placed servicer ratings for Ocwen on watch for downgrade last week due to regulatory scrutiny of the company, results from ...
Underwriting standards on jumbo mortgages tightened slightly in May compared with the previous month, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The results reversed six consecutive months of looser jumbo underwriting. Two-thirds of the 182 banks recently surveyed by the American Bankers Association said their originations in 2014 included non-qualified mortgages. Non-QMs accounted for 10 percent of the banks’ originations ... [Incluides three briefs]
Total originations of reverse mortgages with FHA insurance increased in the first three months of 2015, according to an Inside FHA/VA Lending analysis of agency data. Home Equity Conversion Mortgage production, overall, rose 3.0 percent to $3.9 billion from the fourth quarter of 2014 and was down 2.0 percent on a year-over-year basis. HECM purchase loans far outpaced refinances, which accounted for only 14.5 percent of total HECM volume in the first quarter. Lenders reported a total of $2.3 billion in initial HECM principal amount at loan origination. Meanwhile, there is continued investor interest in HECM mortgage-backed securities (HMBS), according to Ginnie Mae. The unpaid principal balance of HMBS climbed to $48.9 billion in FY 2014 and the number of participations (the funded portions of HECM loans that have been securitized) has increased to 6,585, 856. HMBS issuance was ... [1 chart]
The National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association is seeking guidance from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on how to design reverse mortgage advertisements without triggering regulatory scrutiny. Peter Bell, NRMLA president and chief executive, said he had sent a Freedom of Information Act request seeking access to the particular ads that the CFPB sought comment on in a recent study on reverse mortgage advertisements. The study found that consumers who viewed the ads were left with misimpressions about reverse mortgages. For example, consumers were confused about reverse mortgages being loans. Some thought that home-equity conversion mortgages are a “government benefit” or that they could ensure that homeowners could stay in their homes for the rest of their lives. Others complained of difficulty reading the fine print and that ...
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