The veteran Congressman who would be the first permanent, Senate-confirmed director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency was vague and at times on the defensive during his confirmation hearing this week as Republican senators repeatedly questioned what in his resume makes him qualified to preside as regulator and conservator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Rep. Mel Watt, President Obama’s nominee to succeed FHFA Acting Director Edward DeMarco, told members of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee that the Finance Agency under his leadership would “rigorously follow” the agency’s statutory role in an “open and transparent manner working with all stakeholders.” “You can also be assured...
The revised ranking for the first quarter shows that the top retail lender, Wells Fargo, produced $60.4 billion through this channel, or 12 percent of total originations for the period.
Republican and Democrat lawmakers in the Senate formally unveiled their ambitious plan to replace Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with a new federal entity providing backstop guaranties for securities backed by high-quality conventional mortgages. Although they made a variety of changes to a “discussion draft” version of the legislation that has been widely circulated in recent weeks, the proposal still faces a huge hurdle in the House despite winning generally favorable reactions from industry groups. As it was introduced this week, S. 1217, the Housing Finance Reform and Taxpayer Protection Act of 2013, would create...
“Confusion and uncertainty around representations and warranties standards continue to cause lenders to add their own overlays to the existing GSE credit standards,” said MBA vice chairman Bill Cosgrove.
Some non-agency participants have called for an immediate return to conforming loan limits of $417,000, which were in place in 2008 before Congress established “emergency” loan limits for high-cost areas.
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