A group of four senators has asked the Obama administration and regulators to reject plans by municipalities to use eminent domain to acquire underwater performing mortgages, warning of a dire impact upon the entire mortgage lending space if such a proposal takes root. In a letter dispatched last week to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan, the bipartisan quartet of senators expressed their dismay that the administration “has been largely silent” on Richmond, CA’s proposal to seize performing mortgages, then refinance them into an FHA product.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have finished the underwriting reviews of mortgages they acquired prior to their takeover by the federal government in 2008 and have now recovered more than $18 billion in restitution for breaches of selling representations and warranties, according to a new “progress” report from the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The GSE regulator notes that Fannie and Freddie have each executed multiple risk-sharing transactions, beating their mandated goal of $30 billion. The two also have achieved the Conservator Scorecard Objective of gradually reducing the less-liquid portions of their retained portfolios, according to the Finance Agency’s report.

The Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle announced that its regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, has amended the Bank’s consent order in keeping with its improved financial performance. In October 2010, the FHFA directed the Seattle Bank to implement steps to stabilize its business, improve its capital classification and return to normal operations.

Reform-minded lawmakers should move with all deliberate speed to restructure, recapitalize and remove Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from the government’s hands or risk the taxpayers’ stake in the mortgage market, experts told members of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. The committee’s hearing prior to the Thanksgiving break focused on when and how to terminate the charters of the two government-sponsored enterprises, as well as whether current revenue held by Fannie and Freddie should be used to offset the cost of the new system.

Freddie Rescinds Fraud Training Requirement. Freddie Mac has withdrawn a requirement announced in September mandating fraud training in Bulletin 2013-13, issued Nov. 15. Freddie had required that seller/servicers provide third-party vendors retained to perform functions relating to origination and servicing of mortgages with training on fraud prevention, detection and reporting. The GSE decided to revisit the issue. In addition, the bulletin updates payment history verification requirements for manually underwritten mortgages, and announces that eligibility requirements applicable to higher-priced mortgage loans, previously announced in August, are applicable to higher-priced covered transactions (as defined in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s ability-to-repay/qualified mortgage rule) and not solely to HPMLs.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac issued $58.7 billion in single-family mortgage-backed securities during the month of November, a 13.4 percent decline from October but a 4.8 percent drop for the first 11 months of 2013, according to a new Inside The GSEs analysis.

Mortgage banking income fell sharply in the third quarter and the compliance outlook remained murky, but banks reported a huge improvement in loan buybacks, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of call-report data. Banks and thrifts repurchased or provided other indemnification totaling $1.998 billion during the third quarter, the lowest quarterly amount for the industry in five years. Banks first began reporting repurchase data in their call reports ... [Includes one data chart]

The strength of the non-agency jumbo market, at a time when securitization of these loans has slowed, suggests there is plenty of investor appetite for non-agency jumbos.

The lift in jumbo mortgage production during the third quarter of 2013 came from the non-agency segment of the market, while new originations of “conforming jumbo” loans faltered, according to a new analysis and ranking by Inside Mortgage Finance. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the FHA financed $25.48 billion in single-family loans that exceeded $417,000 during the third quarter, down 15.5 percent from the second quarter. Meanwhile, non-agency jumbo originations edged up 2.7 percent during the third quarter, hitting a six-year high. The strength of the non-agency jumbo market at a time when securitization of these loans has slowed...[Includes three data charts]

The mortgage insurance industry is anxiously awaiting new risk-to-capital rules from the Federal Housing Finance Agency, hoping that the regulator will go easy on an industry that is beginning to recover from a years-long debacle and reclaim market share from the FHA. Private MI executives close to the matter told Inside Mortgage Finance that the FHFA will likely issue a minimum risk-to-capital ratio of 18:1, a tougher standard than the current 25:1, but there is also talk of a phase-in period and “bifurcation” for legacy versus new companies. According to its securities filings, National MI, a new MI, has agreed...