In the 18 states that have loan limits scheduled to expire come October, the impact on borrowers will be minimal, according to a recent report released by economists at the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The National Association of Realtors, the Mortgage Bankers Association and the National Association of Home Builders have been lobbying to extend current high-cost loan limits that are scheduled to decline from a maximum of $729,750 to $650,500 on Oct. 1, claiming that the market isn’t stable enough to stand up without them. Sens. Robert Menendez, D-NJ, and Johnny Isakson, R-GA, this week introduced S. 1508, the Homeownership Affordability Act of 2011, to allow...
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will not be branching out into the role of a “master servicer” in a new, yet-to-be-launched $2 billion bond program as top Republican members of the House Financial Services Committee feared, according to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.In a letter dated July 21 and in response to a letter sent by Committee Chairman Spencer Bachus, R-AL, Vice Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-TX, and four of the committee’s subcommittee chairman, Geithner firmly ruled out any participation by the two GSEs in Treasury’s loan-guarantee program.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have each suspended Republic Mortgage Insurance Co. and its affiliate RMIC of North Carolina effective immediately as approved mortgage insurers after the GSEs concluded the mortgage insurer will no longer be able to meet mandatory capital requirements.According to Fannie’s July 29 announcement, RMIC breached its regulatory risk-to-capital limits required by North Carolina, the mortgage insurer’s state of domicile, as of Sept. 30, 2010.
Look for the tug of war between proponents and opponents of extending high-cost loan limits for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the FHA to go down the wire and even heat up when Congress returns from its summer break in September, Hill watchers predict.Unless Congress intervenes, the “emergency” high-cost market conforming loan limits that were enacted in 2008 will expire on Oct. 1. That would drop the top Fannie, Freddie and FHA loan limit from the current maximum $729,750 to $625,500.
Fannie Mae’s servicers have an additional 30 days to implement its new delinquency management and default prevention requirements, the GSE announced. In June, Fannie issued new servicing standards in compliance with the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Servicing Alignment Initiative that the FHFA announced in April to establish consistent mortgage loan servicing and management requirements for servicers acting on behalf of Fannie and fellow GSE Freddie Mac. …
The Federal Housing Finance Agency said last week to expect further litigation in its ongoing efforts to recover losses suffered by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in connection to the two GSEs’ investments in non-agency securities.Last week, the Finance Agency filed suit against UBS Americas Inc. and various related entities alleging misstatements and omissions of non-agency MBS purchased by Fannie and Freddie.
The House Financial Services Committee’s second highest ranking Democrat is again facing ethics charges stemming from actions she allegedly took to aid a minority bank connected to her husband to recover losses it suffered when Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac preferred stock plummeted after the GSEs were put into conservatorship.The House Ethics Committee announced two weeks ago it will restart its investigation of ethics charges against Rep. Maxine Waters, D-CA, with the hiring of Washington, DC, attorney Billy Martin as an outside counsel to the committee to “review, revise and assist the committee in completing the matter.”
Fannie Mae said this week it would submit a request to the Treasury Department via the Federal Housing Finance Agency for an additional $5.1 billion to eliminate the GSE’s net worth deficit.
A number of distressed mortgage insurance companies with special covenants with state regulators and the government-sponsored enterprises are in danger of losing their ability to write new insurance as continued losses prevent them from meeting financial eligibility requirements. With credit trends further weakening in the second quarter, certain mortgage insurers, including Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp. and PMI Mortgage Insurance Co., could slip below minimum re-serve and surplus requirements, observers say. Already on capital-requirement waivers, the MIs could be ordered to stop ...
The Federal Housing Finance Agency this week filed suit against UBS Securities and various related entities as well as former top officials of the firm over alleged misrepresentations on subprime and Alt A MBS sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The two government-sponsored enterprises bought some $4.5 billion of non-agency MBS issued on two UBS shelf registrations between September 2005 and August 2007. The deals included single-seller and conduit transactions with mortgages originated by ...
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