Just because a GSE uses a third-party vendor to assess the risk of seller/servicers as counter-parties that doesn’t mean the GSE – or their management – is off the hook if something goes awry.

A new poll from IMFnews and Inside Mortgage Finance suggests that lenders are hardly optimistic that the R&W changes will amount to anything.

Mortgage bankers are concerned about what the CSBS is up to and how binding its recommendations will be.

The original consent order was dated Dec. 5, 2012, establishing the compliance monitor and more.

In the wake of the Federal Reserve’s announced end to its multi-part quantitative easing program, look for private investors to face a number of challenges when it comes to increasing their share of the MBS market, concluded a white paper by the Mortgage Bankers Association. The MBA paper, issued late last week, noted there is no single player waiting in the wings able to pick up the slack when the Fed relinquishes its role as the dominant purchaser of agency MBS. “Many of the potential private investors face...

The Obama administration noted this week that it is less than keen on the idea of taking up an outgoing Democrat senator’s call to end the six-plus year conservatorships of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Last week, Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee Chairman Tim Johnson, D-SD, suggested the GSEs’ conservatorship be ended if legislative reform is not forthcoming.

Fewer than 100 financial institutions could be adversely affected by a proposed Federal Housing Finance Agency rule to tweak membership criteria for the 12 Federal Home Loan Banks, the agency’s head told the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee last week. In his first oversight hearing appearance since assuming office in January, FHFA Director Mel Watt said the agency’s “preliminary review” has found of the 7,500 FHLBank member institutions less than 100 may potentially be negatively impacted.

As the Federal Housing Finance Agency prepares a new guaranty fee framework to unveil in early 2015, a report issued by the FHFA last week noted that big g-fee increases in 2013 were not spread evenly across the market. According to the FHFA’s sixth annual study, average mortgage-backed security g-fees charged by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac jumped from 36 basis points in 2012 to 51 bps last year.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency this week unveiled a policy alteration that would potentially allow a foreclosed homeowner to purchase a home – including one he/she lost due to arrears – from the real estate owned inventory of Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. The change will permit Fannie and Freddie to sell existing REO properties to any qualified purchaser at the property’s fair-market value, as determined by the GSE, according to the FHFA.

Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, at the direction of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, last week rolled out changes to their selling representation-and-warranty frameworks in an effort to reduce lenders’ concerns about when they might be asked to repurchase a loan. The GSEs noted that some lenders were concerned about repurchase risk and other market factors causing an increase in credit overlays, which has limited access to credit for potential creditworthy borrowers.