The watchdog agency charged with overseeing the regulator of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks said it has numerous audits and evaluations of the Federal Housing Finance Agency in the pipeline.According to two separate but related reports by the Office of the Inspector General of the FHFA issued late last month, the FHFA-OIG is in the midst of a total of 17 ongoing or planned reviews of the Finance Agency.

Riskier single-family mortgages securitized by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in recent years remained a drag on earnings in the fourth quarter of 2010, forcing the two GSEs to go deeper in debt to the federal government. Fannie and Freddie lost...

Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac retained their ample role in mortgage-backed security market share during the first quarter of 2011, according to a new Inside The GSEs analysis. Both GSEs issued...[Includes one data chart]

The Federal Home Loan Banks should be transformed into a “wholly private structure” in order to defuse the potential systemic risk of incompatible public and private goals, the same conflict that helped usher the downfall of fellow GSEs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, argue...

Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have put their foot down regarding certain agreements between servicers and mortgage insurers, reminding them in no uncertain terms that any deals that might compromise the mortgage insurance of GSE loans are prohibited. Fannie published...

Fannie Mae is tightening its loan modification requirements and calling on servicers to consider a loan modification only when a repayment plan is not appropriate to cure the delinquency. According to Announcement SVC-2011-03, issued April 4, the GSE has updated...

The proposal pushed by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) to end government support of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is a “huge step in the right direction” toward housing recovery, according to a Heritage Foundation senior research fellow. A paper by Heritage’s David John supports...

In a move that might bring more certainty to the role of Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems in the foreclosure process, Fannie Mae is requiring lenders to more clearly identify MERS-registered mortgages. The government-sponsored enterprise already requires lenders to report the MERS Mortgage Identification Number for mortgages originated with MERS as the nominee for the mortgagee or assigned to MERS. Then two weeks ago, Fannie announced several updates to its selling guide having to do with MERS-registered mortgages, one of which is...

The Home Affordable Refinance Program generated 8.2 percent less business during the first quarter of 2011 than in the previous three-month period, according to new government data. Although overall HARP activity slowed in early 2011, there was a measurable increase in refinances of performing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans that had current loan-to-value ratios exceed-ing 105 percent. But such loans accounted for only 1.7 percent of total refi activity by the two govern-ment-sponsored enterprises. HARP transactions accounted for...[includes one data chart]

The chairman of the House Budget Committee said this week that a full and transparent accounting of the cost to taxpayers of the federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is the first, best step to determine how to wind down the two government-sponsored enterprises.During a hearing on taxpayer exposure in the housing markets relating to Fannie, Freddie and the FHA, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-WI, took aim at the White House’s plan for a post-GSE mortgage market. “While the Treasury Department has put forward a ‘framework for reform,’ the Obama administration still...