A proposed Senate bill to steadily wind down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over the course of a decade appears to have some support at the Federal Housing Finance Agency, where the acting director is eager for Congress to move toward resolving the three-year-old conservatorships of the two government-sponsored enterprises. S. 1834, the Residential Mortgage Market Privatization and Standardization Act of 2011 would gradually reduce the two GSEs over 10 years through an unusual mechanism. Instead of guaranteeing the entire MBS trust as they...

The Government Accountability Office recently confirmed the view widely held in the mortgage finance industry that federal regulators are not doing enough to analyze the cost and other effects of implementing the Dodd-Frank Act. “Little is known about the actual impact of the final Dodd-Frank Act rules, given the short amount of time the rules have been in effect,” the GAO said. The government watchdog noted that federal financial regulators are required to perform a variety of analyses, but the requirements vary and none of the regulators are...

Slashing the pay of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac executives would almost certainly lead to an accelerated brain drain and increased losses that would have to be covered by taxpayers, said the heads of the two government-sponsored enterprises and their regulator during hearings on Capitol Hill this week. It’s a tough sell. The House Financial Services Committee this week approved legislation to suspend bonus payments to top GSE officials and move Fannie and Freddie to a government pay scale. Federal Housing Finance Agency Acting Director Edward DeMarco appeared before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban...

Although some changes under the revised Home Affordable Refinance Program will take effect as early as next month, key features such as automated underwriting and new securitization executions will not be available until well into 2012. Observers found no surprises in the HARP 2.0 seller-servicer bulletins issued this week by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and most expect only a modest expansion in program activity. In many cases, the new rules reflect a standardization of the existing programs offered by the government-sponsored enterprises. Among the new changes are a lifting of the existing 125 percent...

Despite several high-profile retreats from the wholesale production channel in recent months, the mortgage industry was pressed to rely more on mortgage brokers and correspondents to meet the increased consumer demand for refinance loans during the third quarter. A new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis and ranking reveals that wholesale loan production increased by 27.7 percent from the second quarter, while the still-dominant retail channel posted a more modest 15.2 percent gain. Many companies have been paring back their retail capacity during 2011 as origination volumes fell sharply through...(Includes four data charts)

Many mortgage lenders are concerned about a new fee-for-service compensation plan proposed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and their federal regulator – including a change in how servicers get their fees. Under the current minimum servicing fee system, servicers take their slice of compensation out of the interest payments being passed through from borrowers to the government-sponsored enterprises. Under the proposed fee-for-service plan, servicers would pass through the entire consumer payment and then get their compensation from the GSEs. Beyond the economics of the proposed change – servicers would get a flat fee, perhaps...

Congress should permit the conforming mortgage loan limits for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the FHA to remain lower as attempts to restore the higher limit could do the mortgage market more harm than good, an expert says.The “emergency” high cost conforming loan limits enacted in 2008 for the GSEs and the FHA expired on Sept. 30, dropping the limit to $625,500 from $729,750.

A bill introduced in the Senate this week would “responsibly unwind” Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and “end the dependence on the government for housing finance.” Sen. Bob Corker, R-TN, said he introduced the Residential Mortgage Market Privatization and Standardization Act to start a conversation on how to best to rebuild the mortgage finance market.

It will be months rather than weeks before the Federal Housing Finance Agency and other government departments are ready to deploy a plan for bulk sales of the inventory of government-owned foreclosed properties, according to the head of the FHFA.Testifying before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises last week, FHFA Acting Director Edward DeMarco told members that with the long-awaited revision of the Home Affordable Refinance Program out of the way, focusing on the government’s ample real estate owned inventory is the “next priority.”

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac each lost much more in the third quarter of 2011 than during the previous three month period and more than one year ago as the two GSEs reported significant derivatives losses.On a combined basis, Fannie and Freddie lost $9.5 billion in the third quarter, compared to a $5.0 billion loss in the second quarter and $3.8 billion in losses during the same period a year ago.