The FHFA permitted Fannie Mae to continue without the ability to assess repurchase late fees because the GSE claimed the cost of setting up such a program could cost $5.4 million

Fed chairman Janet Yellen told legislators: “I think it is really very important for Congress to put in place a new system to address GSE reform. I think we still have a system that has systemic risk."

Also, Morgan Stanley recently increased its stake in Arch Capital Group to 6.3 percent. Arch owns CMG Mortgage Insurance, which is being renamed Arch Mortgage Insurance Company.

Mortgage originators note that because the rule is more than 1,800 pages long and was issued just 10 weeks ago, there has been little time to study it, let alone consider its implications.

One executive familiar with the practice of signing bonuses noted that typically the money is paid out over 12 months, but if the LO does not repeat their past performance the bonus can terminate in a given quarter.

The new service from Freedom Mortgage will handle all aspects of the mortgage transaction, from the initial customer call to closing and servicing of the loan.

The FHA allows low downpayments on loans that have credit scores as low as 580, but numerous lenders have established their own underwriting overlays to protect against poor performance.

A Manhattan federal bankruptcy court last week approved Lehman Brother’s proposed $2 billion-plus settlement that would end an $18.9 billion claim filed against the defunct investment bank by Fannie Mae over soured mortgage securities. Judge James Peck of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York signed off on the settlement agreement between Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and the government-sponsored enterprise, as well as Lehman’s wholly owned subsidiaries Aurora Commercial Group and Aurora Loan Services. ALS was a large Alt A lender/servicer.

Government lawyers have run the numbers again and have now concluded that Bank of America should pay a lot more than the initially-sought $864 million penalty over mortgage fraud related to Countrywide Financial’s “Hustle” program. The Justice Department filed papers with Manhattan Federal Judge Jed Rakoff Wednesday requesting the Charlotte-based BofA be fined $2.1 billion for Countrywide’s fraudulent sale of toxic mortgages to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the years leading up to the financial crisis.

Morgan Stanley & Co. this week disclosed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it likely will pay $1.25 billion to settle charges that it sold faulty non-agency mortgage-backed securities to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the years leading up to the financial crisis. The settlement, however, is not final “and there’s one more stop to it,” said one observer close to matter.