The Federal Housing Finance Agency is tackling duty-to-serve rulemaking, several years after being mandated by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act, and issued a proposed rule this week that could expand the GSEs’ role in manufactured housing loans, affordable housing preservation and mortgages funded in underserved rural areas. FHFA is seeking comments on the proposed rule to implement duty-to-serve and its focus on making sure Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are serving markets that have traditionally been underserved. The manufactured housing industry is one of those underserved markets where leaders have been asking for more clarity. “In developing the proposed rule, the FHFA tried to strike a balance between the requirements...
There was a flurry of activity, including a call for an investigation by the Department of Justice of Mortgage Bankers Association President David Stevens and two others, following a Dec. 7 New York Times piece criticizing the Obama administration and MBA for looking to shut down the GSEs. Stevens, along with Michael Berman, a former MBA chair, and Jim Parrott, senior fellow at the Urban Institute, all former government officials turned private-sector employees, each met with housing policy officials at the White House after leaving their government posts, according to a guest log review by the New York Times.
In hopes of ending a credit scoring system monopoly, Reps. Ed Royce, R-CA, and Terri Sewell, D-AL, recently introduced H.R. 4211, a bill that lets the GSEs consider alternative credit scoring models when deciding which mortgages to purchase. “The GSEs' use of a single credit score is an unfair practice that stifles competition and innovation in credit scoring,” said Royce. He added that breaking up the credit score monopoly at Fannie and Freddie will also assist them in managing their credit risk and decreases the potential for another taxpayer bailout. The Federal Housing Finance Agency directed the GSEs to look into the potential of alternative forms of credit scoring earlier this year.
The GSEs’ low-downpayment product still lacks any strong momentum but has witnessed modest growth since it was launched earlier this year. The FHA/VA maintains its place as the preferred product for borrowers in need of downpayment assistance. Ginnie Mae has accounted for 94.5 percent of purchase mortgages with loan-to-value ratios ranging from 95.1 percent to 97.0 percent that were securitized by the three agencies during the first 11 months of 2015, according to an analysis by affiliated publication Inside Mortgage Finance of loan-level data on agency mortgage-backed securities. Because LTV data is not available for all loans in Ginnie MBS, the agency’s actual share of these high-LTV loans is likely somewhat higher.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac both said they plan to ramp up their credit risk transfers in 2016 and explore more types of transactions. Representatives from the GSEs and FHFA spoke on a Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association risk-sharing panel last week in New York. This goes in line with Fannie’s and Freddie’s recently released 2016 scorecard in which the Federal Housing Finance Agency directed the GSEs to transfer credit risk on at least 90 percent of the unpaid balance of newly acquired mortgages. Laurel Davis, a Fannie vice president, said the GSE wants to continue to grow its investor base and added that Fannie was recently in Australia talking to potential investors.
For the first time in two decades, the Uniform Residential Loan Application form will get a makeover.The redesign is intended to give lenders and borrowers a more useful and consumer-friendly experience, according to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, who said the changes are expected to be completed by the summer of 2016. The GSEs are going to update the URLA to collect more relevant and useful information to help lenders make better underwriting decisions. Moreover, the new form will define a mortgage industry standards maintenance organization (MISMO) compliant dataset that supports the URLA. “Given the mortgage industry’s many changes over the years, along with the GSEs’ changes to underwriting policies and eligibility requirements, the...
Fannie Mae is reaching out to the last of the pack of borrowers looking to modify their loans and announced a policy change to its Servicing Management Default Underwriter tool that is aimed at qualifying more borrowers for foreclosure prevention assistance. Servicers use the tool to determine what foreclosure prevention options are available to help a borrower facing financial difficulty. The change requires servicers to now calculate the borrower’s full mortgage obligation, including the outstanding principal balance, past due interest and other arrearages, to determine eligibility for a Fannie Mae Standard Modification or Streamlined Modification. Prior to the change, only the outstanding principal balance was used.
GSE foreclosure moratorium. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will suspend foreclosures for 17 days in its annual eviction moratorium. From Dec. 18, 2015, through Jan. 3, 2016, there will be no evictions.“As we have done in past years, we are suspending evictions during the holidays,” said Joy Cianci, Senior Vice President of Credit Portfolio Management for Fannie Mae. “We also continue to remind homeowners who may be struggling with their mortgages to reach out for help. Options are available to avoid foreclosure, and we want to help pursue those options whenever possible. Freddie makes single-family loan-level data on all fixed-rate mortgages publicly available....
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