In the past year and a half, banks have started holding an increasing share of conventional conforming mortgages in portfolio instead of securitizing them through the government-sponsored enterprises. Industry analysts suggest GSE guaranty fees are the reason. In the first half of 2015, 91.6 percent of the estimated $442 billion in originations of conventional conforming mortgages were included in mortgage-backed securities. In 2013, 97.0 percent of the estimated $1.17 trillion in conventional conforming originations were securitized, according to an Inside Mortgage Finance analysis. “Securitizing conforming mortgages in agency MBS has become...

In the wake of large losses and insurance claim discrepancies stemming from the financial crisis, the government-sponsored enterprises and mortgage lenders are set to reap the benefits of new private mortgage insurer standards that formally take effect Jan. 1, 2016. Much tighter MI underwriting, coupled with improved insurer due diligence and stringent capital requirements, will improve claim payouts on defaulted loans, according to a recent report by Moody’s Investors Service, adding that policies written under updated GSE requirements will result in lower losses on the GSEs’ risk-sharing transactions and master insurance policies. The updated requirements for master policies give...

Private investors in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac stock are raising concerns about the expansion of risk-transfer activity at the two government-sponsored enterprises, warning that it should not be viewed as the answer to housing reform. The credit-risk transfer programs are often cited as a path to housing finance reform because they bring new private capital to the mortgage business, laying off some of the risk held by the GSEs and, ultimately, by taxpayers. “Some have suggested...

The trade group quickly found a villain for the ugly reading: the Oct. 3, 2015, effective date of the CFPB’s TRID rule.

As one JPM competitor noted: “It’s no surprise that correspondent led the way for them. They own the correspondent jumbo market.”

In 3Q, BofA funded $13.71 billion of first liens, a 14 percent sequential decline. All of it came through the retail channel.

Bank of America said it will discontinue all “space rental agreement programs due to recent regulatory developments.”

Moody’s found that completed foreclosures for bank-serviced loans in Florida averaged 1,077 days or three years...

Meanwhile, it would appear that the revolving door for mortgage CEOs might be taking another spin soon...

Sen. Corker, a Republican from Tennessee, no longer wants to kill Fannie and Freddie outright...