The mystery surrounding how much Fannie Mae really earned in the fourth quarter – and full year – could be solved by the end of next week, as the Federal Housing Finance Agency softens its stance toward allowing the GSE to capture at least a portion of its $64 billion valuation allowance for deferred tax assets. Industry officials who claim to have knowledge of the matter said FHFA is actively working with the GSE to resolve the situation. One former Fannie Mae official said it’s likely the agency will allow both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to claim deferred tax assets over several quarters.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, at the direction of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, rolled out a new streamlined loan modification program designed to increase the number of mods and reduce the number of foreclosed loans owned or guaranteed by the GSEs – a move not without some risks, analysts say. Beginning July 1 and running through Aug. 1, 2015, servicers can send modification notices to eligible borrowers who are between 90 days and 24 months delinquent under the Streamlined Modification Initiative. Building on the principles of the FHFA’s Servicing Alignment Initiative, the new streamlined mod effort seeks to encourage servicers to resolve delinquencies earlier and in a more consistent and timely manner to keep more people in their home and minimize losses to the GSEs and taxpayers, according to FHFA Acting Director Edward DeMarco.

The majority of financial institutions defending themselves against a massive litigation initiative by the Federal Housing Finance Agency on behalf of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for toxic mortgage-backed securities purchased by the GSEs launched a counteroffensive this week by urging a federal appeals court to intervene in their favor against the “unfair” trial judge. Fifteen banks, including JPMorgan Chase, UBS Americas, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and Bank of America, filed a joint petition with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York complaining that U.S. District Judge Denise Cote has engaged in a “one-sided” approach designed to force a settlement rather than “foster fair and reasonable determination of the issues.”

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last week that a 2010 Federal Housing Finance Agency directive advising Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac not to purchase mortgages laden with certain first-priority lien obligations under the Property Assessed Clean Energy program falls within the FHFA’s purview as GSE conservator. A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit overturned a ruling last August by California Federal Judge Claudia Wilken that determined the FHFA was not acting as conservator but as regulator and had improperly exercised substantive regulatory oversight in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act when the agency halted GSE involvement with PACE programs.

Officials at Hope LoanPort are touting the capabilities of their web-based portal to help mortgage servicers get into full compliance with the servicing rules put out in February by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, as well as help loan modifications proceed without interruption. When the CFPB’s mortgage servicing rules kick in Jan. 10, 2014, lenders will be required to “maintain policies and procedures that are reasonably designed to achieve the objectives of facilitating transfer of ...

Despite a sharp increase in mortgage originations last year, the number of state-licensed loan originators increased by just 2.7 percent compared to 2011, according to data from the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System analyzed by Inside Mortgage Trends. A total of 519,428 loan originators were either licensed by the states or registered as staff of a bank, thrift or credit union. The highest concentration of these LOs was in California, where 15.3 percent of the industry ... [Includes one data chart]

Is the tide turning on residential delinquencies suffered by banks or do the numbers look better because the group is selling legacy MSRs?

According to an analysis by Fitch Ratings, the overall charges for a simple jumbo non-agency MBS across all note-holders would increase to between 6.3 percent and 8.2 percent under the new proposal.

The launch of the revised CFPB database expands the bureau's consumer complaint apparatus in a major way. It includes a sub-category for many products, including mortgages.

Fannie Mae could have an answer to its 'deferred tax asset' issue by the end of next week, freeing up billions of dollars in money.