Many industry experts are advising Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to expand so-called front-end approaches to credit-risk transfers that have so far relied heavily on structured debt notes and reinsurance contracts arranged long after loans are sold to the two government-sponsored enterprises. In a comment letter filed with the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Redwood Trust suggested that “a more robust front-end CRT program [should] at least match the volume of back-end transactions.” Through the end of September, Fannie and Freddie have issued $35.88 billion of back-end debt notes covering $1.223 trillion of single-family mortgages, according to Inside MBS & ABS, an affiliated newsletter. Redwood is...
After hearing lenders’ concerns about the increased reporting burden they would face from some of the changes that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac want to make to their Uniform Closing Dataset requirements, the two government-sponsored enterprises agreed to postpone the requirement to provide the seller closing data for one year. “The GSEs understand the difficulties that acquiring the seller data presents, particularly as many lenders are still working through their processes to obtain the seller closing disclosure and data from settlement companies,” the pair said late last month in letters to the Mortgage Bankers Association. “In recognition of these challenges, the GSEs have agreed...
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac reported a combined net profit of $5.53 billion in the third quarter of 2016 with income from guarantee fees strong in both the single-family and multifamily segment. Both government-sponsored enterprises expect guarantee fee income to continue to be a driving force. Freddie’s net profit of $2.33 billion represents its strongest performance since the second quarter of 2015, when it earned $4.17 billion. Stellar g-fee income and a steep reduction in hedging losses helped contribute to that growth. Meanwhile, Fannie reported...
Roughly $4.0 billion, or 72.7 percent, of Nationstar's production came through its consumer direct channel. Purchase loans represented 24 percent of originations.
At the recent annual convention of the Mortgage Bankers Association, trade group chief Dave Stevens said originators are being discouraged from lending to some first-time homebuyers.