Most mortgage lenders outside of the megabanks will say publicly they don’t want lower Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac loan limits, but privately they’ll admit they can live with it, but with one major caveat: how much lower are we talking about? Moreover, preparing for changes to loan software systems and product menus should not be a big deal, several executives told Inside Mortgage Finance. Their biggest concern is...

Speaking at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington Thursday afternoon, FHFA Acting Director Edward DeMarco gave no hint how much of a reduction might be in store. He also took no questions from the audience.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is requiring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to promptly notify the agency whenever they detect fraud “or other financial misconduct” with any business entity they have done business with during the past three years.

Flagstar has finally admitted that it's close to selling a ton of MSRs. But if you want details, don't hold your breath.

Through September $2.1 billion in originations by First Republic were included in jumbo MBS this year. The loans accounted for 17 percent of all non-agency jumbos securitized, according to exclusive figures compiled by Inside Nonconforming Markets.

Meanwhile, sources told Inside Mortgage Finance that the FHFA is looking to extract several billion dollars from Bank of America to settle claims that its Countrywide Financial division sold the GSEs toxic MBS.

Previously, speculation has ranged from January 1 to June 30. Mortgage bankers told Inside Mortgage Finance that whatever the FHFA decides on an implementation date, it had better do so soon.

The CFPB has decided to end its controversial policy of sending enforcement attorneys to routine examinations of supervised financial institutions, effective Nov. 1, 2013. According to CFPB Deputy Director Steven Antonakes, the bureau has been sending enforcement attorneys to on-site exams for a couple years and has changed its practice after assessing the effectiveness and efficiency of the operation. “From the beginning, we intentionally grouped our supervision, enforcement and fair lending offices together because...

The CFPB is putting into place a prioritization framework, apportioning examination, investigation and fair lending resources across product types, and it may well prove to be particularly significant for nonbank entities. “A specific charge of the bureau is to attempt to level the playing field between banks and nonbank entities relative to compliance with federal consumer financial laws,” said CFPB Deputy Director Steven Antonakes in a speech before the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s Advisory Committee on Economic...

Opposition to lower loan limits for the government-sponsored enterprises appears to be increasing by the day as the Federal Housing Finance Agency considers the issue. Support from non-agency participants for a reduction – at least in the high-cost loan limits – has been proportional to the non-agency share of total mortgage originations: about one in 10. “My sense is that there will never be a good time to reduce the conforming loan limit,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics ...