Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae are relying more heavily on special rules that grant most of their single-family business qualified-mortgage status even if the debt-to-income ratio of the loan exceeds 43 percent. [Includes two data charts.]

Fannie Mae announced late last week it would provide a $26 million low-income housing tax credit equity investment to facilitate the construction of Far Rockaway Village, a 457-unit residential development in Queens, New York. Fannie will back the project through The Richman Group Affordable Housing Corporation, a Fannie LIHTC fund partner. ...

Rep. Kenneth Lucas, R-KY, worried that rural communities face challenges that are far different than those faced by typical FHA or VA homebuyers…

Needless to say, the VA IRRRL issue is complicated...

Seterus is owned by IBM, but the vendor doesn’t even mention the ownership link to ‘Big Blue’ in the “About Us” section of its website…

The RESPA statute and existing regulations still clearly prohibit payments for referrals…

The three largest holders of first-liens are Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America…

Keefe Bruyette & Woods believes new PMIER rules could see the light of day shortly…

Ginnie Mae: “We are glad to work with industry participants to try to find workable solutions allowable by law.”

The U.S. Supreme Court decided this week that it’s not going to hear an appeal from Royal Bank of Scotland and Nomura Holdings, which were hoping to overturn an $839 million award ruling on an old MBS suit. This puts an end to a drawn out seven-year battle between the government and the two banks.