Freddie Mac earned just $227 million in the fourth quarter, blaming the 90 percent sequential decline in profits on derivative losses of $3.4 billion. In a briefing with the media, Freddie CEO Don Layton went out of his way to explain that when interest rates eventually rise, the government-sponsored enterprise could benefit greatly. “I wish that accounting was more tied to economics but it’s not,” he said. Layton stressed...
A U.S. district court judge in Iowa recently dismissed a shareholder motion to vacate an amended agency agreement requiring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to pay nearly all their quarterly profits to the Treasury equal to their net worth. Filed by Continental Western Insurance Company, the lawsuit is similar to another case, Perry Capital, Inc. v. Lew, filed by the plaintiff’s parent, Berkley Regional Insurance Co., and Berkley Insurance Co. against the Federal Housing Finance Agency…
Having a busy correspondent program helped many of the top agency mortgage sellers cultivate purchase-mortgage business in 2014, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of loan-level data on loans securitized by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae. Mortgages originated by loan correspondents accounted for 35.3 percent of single-family loans securitized by the agencies last year. Retail originations were the ... [Includes two data charts]
Mortgage loan officers are a hot commodity these days, but recruiting top producers is becoming problematic thanks to low interest rates and swelling pipelines. In short, many LOs are reluctant to accept an enticing new salary and bonus because they don’t want to leave money on the table when they depart. “It’s a trend that’s happening now,” said Chris George, president of CMG Mortgage, one of California’s largest privately held nonbanks ...
Industry economists expect modest gains in home sales and a spurt in single-family housing starts in 2015, but the market likely won’t reach full strength until next year. Fannie Mae is forecasting a 5.8 percent increase in total home sales from 2014 levels, with most of the increase coming in the smaller new-home category. The near-term outlook for sales is soft, the government-sponsored enterprise said in a new outlook, based on recent indicators such as ...
Using “probability of default” values instead of credit scores to measure risk in a mortgage securitization can provide far more insight and dramatically cut loss exposure, according to a new white paper from VantageScore Solutions, a joint initiative created by the three major credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. “Loan securitization has become an essential source of capital for consumer lenders of all sizes, playing a significant role in ...
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