Two senators are questioning the effectiveness of the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s watchdog, the Office of the Inspector General, in light of staff cuts in the Office of Audits over the past two years and money spent to hire outside attorneys and employees. Sens. Charles Grassley, R-IA, and Ron Johnson, R-WI, penned a letter late last month to the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency requesting an outside review of the FHFA OIG. Prior to the letter to the CIGIE, which monitors the integrity of the IG office, Grassley has sent several letters to FHFA OIG’s Laura Wertheimer since last October regarding organizational changes made under her leadership.

A growing number of lenders are partnering with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to offer low downpayment products requiring as little as 1 to 3 percent down. Many were announced without much fanfare and this has created a quiet comeback of sorts, according to Deutsche Bank.So far, seven lenders, including three large traditional banks, have introduced programs this year. Although the GSEs cap their high loan-to-value products at 97 percent, some lenders step in and subsidize the extra funds needed to make up the difference to help cash-strapped borrowers.The GSEs began offering their 97 percent LTV programs in late 2014 after they phased it out several years earlier.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency Office of Inspector General released three reports last week accusing the FHFA of shirking its responsibility to effectively examine Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.The first report said the FHFA failed to deliver timely reports of its examinations to the GSE boards and obtain written responses back from the boards about remediating specific concerns. The FHFA and Division of Enterprise Review provide examiners with “very limited guidance” for communicating the exams’ findings, conclusions, and ratings to the board of directors of a regulated entity, according to the report. “In contrast, other federal financial regulators have issued detailed...

The Federal Home Loan Bank’s Mortgage Partnership Finance Direct program significantly raised its loan limits from $1.5 million to $2.5 million, and now includes hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages. This is the second jump in about a year. Last June, the loan limit more than doubled from $729,750 to $1.5 million. MPF Direct participants are often small lending institutions. Eric Schambow, senior vice president and senior director with MPF product management, told Inside The GSEs that in working with members that already deliver under the MPF program and its Advisory Council of Private Funding Institutions, the FHLB heard them express the need to more completely match what the marketplace offers.

Most voters are not happy with housing and mortgage access and favor more government intervention, according to a national housing poll of 1000 likely voters released last week by Investors Unite. More than half of those familiar with Fannie Mae Freddie Mac, 55 percent, had a favorable view of the mortgage giants. The survey was done in late June by Douglas Schoen, founder of Schoen Consulting,a pollster and democratic campaign consultant. It included views on homeownership, housing policies and the GSEs. He said the desire for policy change is “widespread and urgent.”

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is seeking to prevent GSE shareholder and director of Investors Unite, Tim Pagliara, from inspecting the corporate records of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.Pagliara filed a lawsuit in state courts in March hoping to gain access, as an individual stockholder, to the GSEs’ records to determine the circumstances surrounding the sweep. Fannie, incorporated in Delaware, and Freddie, incorporated in Virginia, both denied his request to review the records earlier this year. Pagliara then argued that his rights as a shareholder were denied for “no legitimate basis.” This week, the FHFA filed a motion to substitute itself for Pagliara and remove...

FHFA Publishes Update to Proposed Duty To Serve Rule: This week the Federal Housing Finance Agency provided an update to its proposed duty to serve rule in the form of summaries of roundtable meetings it held with various groups in April and May, On April 19 and May 2, FHFA said it met with rural housing market stakeholders. On April 20, it met with consumer groups, civil rights groups, affordable housing advocates and energy efficiency stakeholders, on April 25, FHFA met with financial service stakeholders, and on April 26, FHFA met with members of the manufactured housing industry.

Ginnie Mae edged past Freddie Mac in servicing outstanding on single-family mortgages tied to mortgage-backed securities during the second quarter of 2016, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Mortgage Finance. MBS disclosure reports show the supply of Ginnie mortgage servicing rights grew 2.1 percent during the second quarter, climbing to $1.576 trillion, excluding multifamily and reverse mortgage MBS. The supply of Freddie single-family servicing edged up just 0.4 percent from March, reaching $1.558 trillion and slipping to third in the agency MSR market. Fannie Mae single-family MSR servicing declined...[Includes two data tables]

While some banks have reduced their FHA lending in recent years and alternatives from the government-sponsored enterprises are still gaining traction, homebuyers still have access to low-downpayment mortgage programs, according to the latest Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey. “Most real estate agents say high loan-to-value ratio mortgages are readily available, especially for homebuyers with good credit,” said Tom Popik, research director for Campbell Surveys. The HousingPulse survey covering activity in June included...