The Seventh Circuit Court shot down the chances of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shareholders reviving their Treasury sweep claims last week. Investors Christopher Roberts and Thomas Fischer argued that the preferred stock purchase agreement was illegal and robbed shareholders of their profits.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continued to whittle away at their retained mortgage portfolios during the first quarter, though the pair still had $469.3 billion of MBS and whole loans on their books at the end of March. [Includes one data chart.]
A former Fannie executive (pre-federal takeover) said that when he worked at the GSE, “We looked at doing this, but were told it wasn’t in the charter and so we didn’t proceed.”
Mortgage sellers continue to get a little more adventurous in the kinds of loans they deliver to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to an exclusive Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of data on mortgage-backed securities issued during the first quarter of 2018. The credit loosening was more apparent in the purchase-mortgage sector, which saw declining production volume from seasonal factors. In the first quarter, 12.61 percent of purchase loans sold ... [Includes two data charts]
Neither PHH Corp. nor the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will ask the Supreme Court of the United States to review a lower court decision that overturned the agency’s controversial interpretation of anti-kickback provisions in the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act.
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