Two years after being announced, a judge is set to rule on Bank of America’s proposed $8.5 billion settlement involving non-agency mortgage-backed securities. The ruling will set a precedent for other non-agency MBS issuers facing repurchase requests, according to industry analysts. “Either the deal goes through and becomes a template for how to extract oneself from this mess, or it gets rejected and signals that far more pain is coming down the pike,” said Isaac Gradman ...
FirstREX is offering a slight wrinkle on “80-10-10” loan structures by taking an equity stake in the home, recording a second lien, while foregoing monthly payments from the borrower. It remains to be seen whether its “HomeBuyer” product will catch fire nationally. The privately held firm is helping consumers buy a home by providing up to half the downpayment. In marketing materials, the company is careful to point out that it isn’t a lender and that its program shouldn’t be construed as being part of a ...
The funds participating in the Public-Private Investment Program ended their asset purchases in the fourth quarter of 2012 and generated strong returns on investments in non-agency mortgage-backed securities. While Public-Private Investment Funds can retain their holdings through 2017, most have liquidated their portfolios. Nine funds participating in the PPIP purchased $24.9 billion in MBS, largely vintage non-agency MBS along with some commercial MBS. At the end of the ... [Includes one data chart]
Legislation to reform the government-sponsored enterprises is starting to appear in the Senate. Last week, Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-GA, introduced S. 1048, similar to the “Mortgage Finance Act” he introduced in 2011. The bill would revoke the charters of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac upon resolution of their obligations and create a new Mortgage Finance Agency for securitization. Sens. Bob Corker, R-TN, and Mark Warner, D-VA, are also working on a bill that would replace Fannie and ... [Includes two briefs]
The Texas House of Representatives has approved legislation that will let voters decide on Nov. 5 whether to allow home-equity purchase lending in the Lone Star State. The bill would amend the Texas constitution to authorize Home Equity Conversion Mortgage for Purchase loans, which would make the program available to Texans for the first time. The state legislature voted 139 to 1 in favor of Senate Joint Resolution 18, which the Texas Senate approved unanimously in March. Specifically, the bill would amend the state constitution to ... [One chart]
Wall Street raised no objections to a Ginnie Mae proposal to consolidate its two mortgage-backed securities programs, indicating the move would be good for securitization and result in other positives. However, there appeared to be no consensus among players on how to get there. Representatives of Ginnie Mae and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association met early this month to discuss the agency’s proposal. Analysts agreed it is far too early in the game to discern a clear path towards a single Ginnie Mae MBS program and that implementation is likely years away. Nevertheless, there were ...
Ginnie Mae servicers reported a small increase in servicing volume during the first three months of 2013, with Ocwen Loan Servicing posting the largest gains from last quarter and from a year ago. Servicers held a total of $1.33 trillion in government-backed mortgage debt outstanding at the end of the quarter, up a notch from the fourth quarter and 8.2 percent more than the total Ginnie Mae servicing debt a year ago. Though Ocwen was fifth in the ranking with $36.08 billion, its servicing volume was up more than 1000 percent both from the last quarter and from the same period last year. Among the top Ginnie servicers, only ... [One chart]
The prospect of legislation being offered that would grant the Department of Housing and Urban Development greater authority to manage the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage program has improved significantly after two House lawmakers declared their intention to introduce a bipartisan bill. Reps. Michael Fitzpatrick, R-PA, and Denny Heck, D-WA, announced during a recent hearing by the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance that they will co-sponsor legislation to give the FHA the authority it needs to swiftly implement HECM reforms by mortgagee letter. Fitzpatrick expressed his support for ...
The long-awaited boom in nonperforming loan sales may finally be here, as megabanks such as Wells Fargo, Citigroup and HSBC have begun testing investor appetites by offering large packages in the open market. According to investors and advisors who play in the space, Wells recently auctioned off an $800 million NPL package and HSBC sold a $750 million portfolio. Recently, Popular Bank said that it entered...
RSS