Credit-risk transfer transactions can be multifunctional in that they do more than just help take the risk off the GSEs. They’re also a good indicator for setting guarantee fees. Freddie Mac said CRTs are often indicative of what the private market would charge for the risk taken on by a GSE. And the appropriate level of g-fees has been an important issue in housing finance.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac recently released more details on requirements for participating in their new refinance option for loans originated after Oct. 1. This option allows borrowers with high loan-to-value ratios to refinance. While the official start date is next month, the GSEs said that a minimum of 15 months must have passed between the note date of the existing loan and the start of the new loan. For example, if the mortgage is originated in October 2017, the note date of the new loan can be no earlier than February 2019. To participate, the loans must be owned or securitized by Fannie or Freddie and can include loans that are part of its risk-sharing structure.
GSEs. Congress should be the one that makes the ultimate decision on deciding the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to a just-completed poll from Inside Mortgage Finance. Roughly, 28 percent of industry professionals picked Congress as the ultimate decider with the Federal Housing Finance Agency coming in a close second at 25 percent. Treasury finished third in the poll at 18 percent. Then again, the fourth choice – “I wish we had another option, but we don’t” actually garnered the highest response at 29 percent.Wells Fargo Analysis of GSEs’ Portfolio. Wells Fargo said that the GSEs’ portfolio needs to be able to buy out seriously delinquent loans from mortgage-backed securities and provide
A former Deutsche Bank employee is at the center of a lawsuit brought by the government over the sale of more than $1 billion of non-agency MBS. It’s rare when the government focuses on an individual for mortgage fraud, but the Department of Justice said the bank’s former head of subprime trading allegedly defrauded investors out of hundreds of millions of dollars. The civil complaint was filed in Brooklyn’s federal court against Paul Mangione for knowingly selling bad subprime mortgages financed during the crisis and misleading investors about loan quality. The complaint alleges that he engaged in fraudulent schemes involving the origination practices of Deutsche Bank’s subsidiary, DB Home Lending LLC, which originated the bulk of the loans. The securities were sold...
In a research note published Friday, Cowen & Co. notes the letter is an indication these groups believe allowing the GSEs to retain capital will prolong the conservatorships.
ATTOM’s Daren Blomquist: “In markets where distressed discounts have largely dried up, flippers are showing more willingness to leverage financing when acquiring properties…”