Bank of America is putting up a strong defense and plans on whittling down the settlement price in a Federal Housing Finance Agency non-agency MBS fraud case against the company, sources close to the matter told Inside MBS & ABS. One official close to the due-diligence team working for BofA said the regulator seeks a $13 billion payment to settle charges that the bank and two companies it bought during the housing meltdown – Countrywide Financial Corp. and Merrill Lynch – sold faulty nonprime MBS to the government-sponsored enterprises. This source, who spoke under the condition his name not be published, said...[Includes one data chart]

Investors shying away from new jumbo MBS have expressed strong interest in the risk-sharing transactions offered by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Demand for the transactions has been so high recently that some analysts are recommending that investors could see better returns from vintage non-agency MBS. Fannie Mae said about 75 investors initially bought into the $675 million in non-guaranteed bonds it offered, and Freddie Mac said about 50 investors initially bought into the $500 million in non-guaranteed bonds it offered. “The deal has been very well received...

A total of $33.16 billion of commercial MBS – including agency MBS backed by multifamily mortgages – were issued during the third quarter of 2013, a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis reveals.

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.

The mortgage industry has been anxiously waiting to see the new RESPA-TILA disclosure rule.

When in doubt, use the whole loan market. Shellpoint Partners is giving up, for now, trying to issue a jumbo MBS.

Through September $2.1 billion in originations by First Republic were included in jumbo MBS this year. The loans accounted for 17 percent of all non-agency jumbos securitized, according to exclusive figures compiled by Inside Nonconforming Markets.

Meanwhile, sources told Inside Mortgage Finance that the FHFA is looking to extract several billion dollars from Bank of America to settle claims that its Countrywide Financial division sold the GSEs toxic MBS.

One mortgage recruiter noted that job losses in somewhat rural communities can be a big problem for workers. “Sometimes they’re the largest employer in town and there’s nowhere else to go,” he said.

Previously, speculation has ranged from January 1 to June 30. Mortgage bankers told Inside Mortgage Finance that whatever the FHFA decides on an implementation date, it had better do so soon.