The Obama administration is on the same page as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s regulator in its desire to shift some of the mortgage credit exposure the government-sponsored enterprises hold to private investors. But exactly how to develop some sort of GSE risk-sharing program continues to bedevil policymakers, a Treasury Department official noted last week. Michael Stegman, a special advisor to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, explained in a speech to real estate professionals that the Treasury is “actively engaged in helping to make this [GSE risk sharing] initiative work” but the...

The settlement baked into the Residential Capital bankruptcy agreement is facing new challenges, including one from Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway and another from unsecured creditors. When ResCap announced its bankruptcy last month, it did so with a plan to sell its mortgage origination platform and servicing rights to Nationstar Mortgage, a division of Fortress Investment Group, for $4 billion and its portfolio loans to its parent company Ally Financial. Part of the deal is a release of legal liability for Ally, which will pass along some of its lingering obligations – like follow through on the...

More than 1,800 comment letters were apparently not enough. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reopened the comment period last week on the pending ability-to-repay rule, with an emphasis on data relating to debt-to-income ratios. The rule will define “qualified mortgages” and the Dodd-Frank Act mandates that it be finalized by January 21, 2013. Data on agency mortgages helped prompt the request for comments, and the CFPB said it is hoping for similar data on mortgages in non-agency mortgage-backed securities ...

Non-agency mortgage-backed security investors and politicians on both sides of the aisle were critical this week of the recent $25.0 billion servicing settlement. The settlement requires principal reduction loan modifications on mortgages held in five banks’ portfolios and allows the servicers to receive credit for reducing principal on mortgages in non-agency MBS. Vincent Fiorillo, a trading/portfolio manager at Doubleline Capital, noted that the Association of Mortgage Investors is not opposed to principal reduction mods ...

Walter Investment Management is scheduled next week to begin subservicing the first batch of up to 30,000 mortgages in non-agency mortgage-backed securities for Bank of America. The transfer will mark the latest shift from BofA to subservicers as part of a still-disputed $8.5 billion proposed settlement with non-agency MBS investors. Nine subservicers were approved as part of the settlement: Acqura Loan Services, Bayview Loan Servicing, FCI Lender Services, Nationstar Mortgage, Residential Credit Solutions ...

Mortgage industry participants support a new proposed definition of subprime consumer loans for banks with more than $10.0 billion in assets. However, some raised concerns that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s proposal could unnecessarily impact holdings of nontraditional mortgages. In March, the FDIC proposed a revised definition of “higher-risk” consumer, commercial and industrial loans and securities for the large bank pricing model, which determines deposit insurance rates. Instead of defining subprime loans based ...

Most major non-agency servicers met the June 1 deadline for the start of Tier 2 of the Home Affordable Modification Program, according to the Treasury Department. While overall HAMP performance has improved, some non-agency servicers have more improvements to make. HAMP Tier 2 was designed to help borrowers with debt-to-income ratios below 31 percent as well as those with rental properties. The Treasury this week revealed the HAMP Tier 2 progress for 18 servicers. Bank of America, Green Tree Servicing and ...

Three more FHA-approved lenders have found themselves under government scrutiny as the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of the Inspector General broadened its investigation of potential abuses of the FHA single-family program. The OIG reportedly issued subpoenas to three large financial institutions last month to submit information on their FHA operations to determine whether the lenders followed HUD requirements when originating and underwriting FHA loans. The inspector general also would look to see whether quality control programs are ...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is expanding an existing FHA note sales program as an alternative strategy for disposing of foreclosure property from the department’s bulging real estate-owned inventory. HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan announced enhancements to the accelerated claims disposition (ACD) program, which was designed primarily for delinquent FHA loans, at the 2012 Clinton Global Initiative America Meeting held this week in Chicago. The event brings together government and private sector leaders to discuss ways to ...

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is seeking comment and information on mortgages not financed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, including those insured and guaranteed by the federal government, as it reopened the public discussion for the proposed “ability to repay” rule. New data the Federal Housing Finance Agency provided to the CFPB after the close of the rulemaking’s comment period spurred the bureau to reopen the comment period until July 9, 2012. The new FHFA data track the performance of loans purchased or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from 1997 to 2011. The CFPB also has obtained data on ...