Democrat state attorneys general from 16 states and the District of Columbia wrote President Trump earlier this month, vowing to ramp up their enforcement efforts if the bureau backs off under Acting Director Mick Mulvaney, and taking issue with his appointment to the position. “As you know, state attorneys general have express statutory authority to enforce federal consumer protection laws, as well as the consumer protection laws of our respective states,” the AGs said. “We will continue to enforce those laws vigorously regardless of changes to CFPB’s leadership or agenda.” They reminded the president that, as attorneys general, they retain broad authority to investigate and prosecute individuals or companies that deceive, scam or otherwise harm consumers. “If incoming CFPB leadership ...

A new report from the Office of the Inspector General of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. found that examiners in the agency’s Division of Depositor and Consumer Protection need to do a better and more consistent job of reviewing lenders’ compliance with the CFPB’s ability-to-repay and loan originator compensation rules. The ATR rule directed most mortgage lenders to make a reasonable and good-faith determination, at or before loan consummation, that a consumer would have a reasonable ability to repay a residential mortgage loan according to its terms. Some lenders and loan programs are exempt from this requirement. The LO comp rule placed limits on loan originator compensation and imposed new requirements on loan originators. Both rules took effect Jan. 10, 2014....

But the gain was largely attributable to one bank – Wells Fargo – which acquired an agency servicing portfolio of about $51.0 billion from Seneca Mortgage…

The statute requires the GSEs to serve three specific underserved markets: manufactured housing, affordable housing preservation, and rural housing by increasing secondary market liquidity...

Freddie Mac decided to dip its toes into the single- family rental market with a $161 million transaction with CoreVest Finance. The securities are backed by affordable single-family rental properties targeting low-income and working families. The SR01 certificates include 59 loans originated primarily by CoreVest. Freddie has been exploring the growing SFR market for the better part of the year. While Fannie Mae received some backlash for its one large $1 billion transaction earlier this year with Invitation Homes, Freddie’s focus was on the affordable housing market. Most of the 2,355 properties included in this transaction (94 percent) are affordable to families earning less than 100 percent of the area median income.

Tax-Exempt Loans. This week, Freddie Mac announced the external offering of two multifamily pass-through securities backed by tax-exempt loans (TEL Multi PCs). The underlying tax-exempt loans are made by state or local housing agencies and secured by affordable rental housing. It is the first time TEL Multi PCs have been offered by Freddie Mac. They are designed to help source the lowest cost of capital to deliver even more efficient financing for affordable housing through the company’s Tax-Exempt Loan program. The company announced the pricing of two separate single-class securities each backed by one fixed-rate, multifamily tax-exempt loan. Both are...

Freddie Mac continued to expand its share of the GSE single-family business in November, following a strong showing the previous month, according to a new Inside The GSEs analysis of mortgage-backed securities data. The two GSEs guaranteed $79.09 billion in new single-family MBS last month, an unexpected 4.5 percent increase from October’s production. Freddie posted the biggest increase, 7.4 percent for the month, while Fannie issuance in November was up a more modest 2.0 percent. That pushed Freddie’s share of the GSE single-family MBS business to 47.0 percent, up from 45.7 percent in October, matching the company’s biggest market share since July 2015. Through the first nine months of 2017, Freddie managed to garner...

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would be barred from making contributions to the Housing Trust Fund if Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt decides to forgo sending dividend payments to the Treasury under a bill approved this week by the House Financial Services Committee. The GSE Jumpstart Reauthorization Act of 2017 (H.R. 4560) would also extend an existing prohibition on the Treasury Department from selling its shares in the GSEs without congressional approval. That ban, currently due to sunset at the end of this month, would be extended to Dec. 31, 2018.The bill, introduced on Dec. 6 by Rep. French Hill, R-AR, would suspend Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac...

Resolving the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac conservatorship dilemma got a significant boost last week when House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-TX, said he’s open to negotiations on housing-finance reform. During a speech at a National Association of Realtors conference, Hensarling expressed support for a bipartisan approach while outlining his beliefs for a sustained housing-finance reform plan. This represents the first time that the lawmaker publicly said he’s ready to make a deal when it comes to reform. And that includes changing his tune on opposing any type of government guarantee for mortgage-backed securities backed by conventional home loans.

As the Federal Housing Finance Agency works to prepare the industry for the single security and common securitization platform, officials are keeping a close eye on consistency in prepayment speeds between Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The single security and CSP are on target for implementation in 2019, according to a new FHFA progress update released in December. In that report, the FHFA described in more detail the processes it has in place to minimize variance in prepayment speeds between Fannie and Freddie mortgage-backed securities that have the same coupon, maturity and issuance cohort.