Promoting alignment between Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the programs offered, versus competition, is a balancing act, according to Bob Ryan, Federal Housing Finance Agency acting deputy director, division of conservatorship. He spoke about the single security during a housing panel sponsored by the Urban Institute and Core Logic last week. Ryan said that it’s important to consider what the implications might be for investors when deciding whether to have the GSEs align or compete in their programs and activities. Freddie is on track to implement the single security in the fourth quarter of 2017, he said. That change will put Freddie’s existing securities on the new platform.
Fannie Mae and SoFi introduced a new loan option last week that lets homeowners take advantage of low rates and use the equity in their home to pay down college loans. Under the Student Loan Payoff ReFi, homeowners can refinance mortgages and cash out while paying down an existing loan balance. Fannie estimates that just 1.8 percent of the cash-out mortgages it finances today are being used to pay off student loans. With cash-out refinances growing, Deutsche Bank said it expects to see refinance activity and mortgage-backed security issuance tick up. The new product is driven by cutting guaranty fees that usually accompany Fannie cash-out mortgages. GSE officials said they received approval...
An executive at Angel Oak Capital, Atlanta, parent of Angel Oak Home Loans, confirmed that his firm is seeking a rating and would like to issue a rated non-QM MBS someday…
Market analysts, observers and participants alike feel pretty much in the dark about what to expect from Republican President-elect Donald Trump when it comes to the fate of government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. “Mortgage finance legislation and the future of the GSEs was never discussed during the campaign so there are no clear indicators of what a Trump administration will do regarding the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,” analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods said in a post-election review. Complicating life for the new regime is...
As the new breed of subprime lenders continues to increase originations, these firms are now actively pondering whether they should approach the rating agencies about getting their firms rated. Dan Perl, founder and CEO of nonprime/non-QM lender Citadel Servicing, Irvine, CA, said his firm has approached Fitch Ratings and hopes to get rated as both a servicer and originator. Perl believes some of his competitors are going down the same path as well. He told...
Over the past couple of weeks, a battle has been brewing over the government’s response to a court order to release dozens of documents regarding the U.S. Treasury’s net worth sweep of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac profits. Plaintiffs in Fairholme Funds Inc. v. United States, et al, filed an emergency enforcement motion arguing that the government is purposely taking too long to produce the documents and requesting unnecessary extensions. Federal Claims Court Judge Margaret Sweeney ordered the Federal Housing Finance Agency and the Treasury to turn over 56 documents to the plaintiff’s attorney, under seal, back in mid-September. The agencies had been...
Goldman Sachs has agreed to pay an undisclosed settlement amount to ACA Financial Guaranty Corp. to resolve allegations of fraud related to insurance on a collateralized debt obligation backed by subprime mortgages. Details of the Abacus CDO settlement were not disclosed, although ACA initially sought $120 million in damages. First filed in 2011, ACA’s lawsuit accused Goldman Sachs and hedge fund Paulson & Co. of fraudulently persuading it to guarantee payments on the CDO prior to the financial crisis. ACA alleged...
In case you didn’t know it, the Irvine, CA-based Citadel now services roughly $650 million in nonprime loans. Angel Oak and Deephaven use subservicers…
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