With little chance of GSE reform legislation passing until 2016, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will continue to experience employee turnover as well as infrastructure upkeep challenges, say experts. Speaking during a conference call sponsored by GSE shareholder rights group Investors Unite this week, Matt Seu, principal with Actualize Consulting and a former Freddie vice president, warned that six years of government conservatorship have taken a toll on the institutional memories at both companies. …
An Iowa-based GSE last week asked a federal court in the state to give “no weight” to a ruling earlier this month by a federal judge who dismissed litigation by other GSE shareholders, including Perry Capital and Fairholme Funds. Continental Western Insurance Co. filed papers in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa Central Division arguing that Judge Royce Lamberth was “simply wrong” in his interpretation of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 and his HERA-based rationale to shut down shareholders’ suits in DC.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency may end up having second thoughts about its proposed housing goals for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac given the room for improvement industry members cited in comment letters to the agency. Issued by the FHFA in September, the proposal would increase some of the benchmark levels for Fannie’s and Freddie’s affordable housing goals through 2017, while also establishing new housing subgoals for low-income multifamily properties.
Fannie Mae will pay $170 million to certain investors to settle a consolidated class-action lawsuit that alleges the GSE misrepresented its exposure to subprime loans in the run up to the 2008 mortgage crisis.The lead plaintiffs in the case include the Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management Board and State Boston Retirement Board, which represent a class of common stockholders. The Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System represents a class of preferred stockholders.
A federal judge last week dismissed claims brought by the state of Massachusetts that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac violated state law by putting limits on the sale of pre- and post-foreclosure homes. State Attorney General Martha Coakley filed suit in June against the Federal Housing Finance Agency, as GSE conservator, alleging that Fannie and Freddie are violating state law by refusing to negotiate lower terms for distressed Bay State homeowners.
The share price of Ocwen Financial recently fell to a 52-week low of $18.47, a 70 percent decline that has wiped out at least $5 billion in market equity.
When rates take a noticeable dive – as they have the past few weeks – mortgage lenders contemplating a sale sometimes have a change of heart, opting to ride the new production wave. But this time around, that doesn’t appear to be the case. “Most every lender I speak to understands this to be a very temporary event prior to a relatively cold and uncertain winter,” said M&A advisor Rick Roque of Menlo Company. Over the past two months, Inside Mortgage Finance has found 10 publicly announced M&A transactions with several more likely signed that weren’t disclosed. Roque, who’s working on several deals, said...
While originations of loans that don’t meet standards for qualified mortgages can subject lenders to increased liability, underwriting and compensating factors can help limit risks from non-QMs, according to Moody’s Investors Service. “Non-QM loans typically carry higher default risks than QM loans, but lenders can mitigate those risks by originating loans with attributes that compensate for the weaknesses that put the loans outside of the QM guidelines,” analysts at Moody’s said in a report published late last week. The rating service said...
Mortgage lending industry representatives urged the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to establish workable data integrity standards as it substantially expands reporting requirements under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. “Our members are committed to reporting accurate data and strive to do so, but the current supervisory expectation of a near-zero error rate is virtually impossible to achieve,” said six industry trade groups said in a joint comment letter. “As community banks and other small lenders pointed out to the bureau during the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act panel, the doubling of the number of reported fields can be expected to cause the error rate to increase exponentially.” Some small business participants raised...
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