The Federal Housing Finance Agency is ignoring a clear directive to rehabilitate Fannie Mae and the GSE conservators failure to restore the firm to financial health has come at the cost of the companys common shareholders, according to a new lawsuit filed against the government earlier this week. Fannie shareholders Bryndon Fisher and Bruce Reid filed suit against the United States government, as well as Fannie as a nominal defendant, in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. This latest shareholder lawsuit does not challenge the legality of Fannies placement into conservatorship in September 2008.
The the most powerful consumer regulator in the nation raised concerns about aligning the definitions of 'qualified residential mortgage' and 'qualified mortgage.'
The agency watchdog wants HUD to pursue civil remedies against The Lending Company and impose fines for incorrectly certifying that mortgages were eligible for FHA insurance.
The NCUA has filed lawsuits against several investment bankers, including Barclays Capital, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Securities and UBS Securities alleging securities law violations in the sale of MBS.
HUD eliminated the standard 30-year, fixed-rate HECM in April because the default rate on the loans was about four times that of a non-HECM regular mortgage.
FHFA has been analyzing approaches for reducing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loan limits across the country, "and any such change would be announced with adequate advance notice for implementation on January 1, 2014" the regulator said.
Thomas Hoenig, vice chairman of the FDIC, said he is particularly interested in exploring the downpayment issue further. Securities investors are also likely to push for downpayment requirements for QRMs.
In May, Sen. Bill Nelson, D-FL, flagged the disturbing consumer credit reporting practice of lumping a short sale within the same industry code as a foreclosure in consumer credit reports.