The conversation on GSE reform has shifted heavily as we approach midyear, having gone from optimism on congressional legislation to discussions on administrative options. And two Washington, DC-based think tanks recently offered their thoughts on reform and both point to 2019. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said last week that housing-finance reform will not happen this year. Karen Petrou, managing partner with Federal Financial Analytics, called this the “death knell” for GSE reform in this Congress. And she added that he didn’t seem sorry to deliver it. “With Mel Watt’s term as Federal Housing Finance Agency director coming to a close, Treasury...
Investors arguing that the net worth sweep was unjust hit a roadblock late last week when the Seventh Circuit Court ruled that they can’t claim GSE profits post-conservatorship.This latest ruling also led the Federal Housing Finance Agency to try to influence the outcome in similar cases against the agency. The shareholders sought to overturn a 2017 ruling in which a federal judge went against them and granted the government’s motion to dismiss the complaint.In this case, Christopher Roberts, et al., vs. the Federal Housing Finance Agency et al., similar to other shareholder complaints, investors argued that the...
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau should not take enforcement action against securitization trusts for the acts of servicers, the Structured Finance Industry Group said.
Non-agency MBS traders defeated charges brought by the federal government in two separate cases late last week. In one case, a judge ruled that a lower court erred by admitting evidence against the trader; in the other, a jury determined that bluffing by a trader didn’t warrant a conviction.
The Seventh Circuit Court shot down the chances of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shareholders reviving their Treasury sweep claims last week. Investors Christopher Roberts and Thomas Fischer argued that the preferred stock purchase agreement was illegal and robbed shareholders of their profits.
A former Fannie executive (pre-federal takeover) said that when he worked at the GSE, “We looked at doing this, but were told it wasn’t in the charter and so we didn’t proceed.”
About 70.4 percent of the home loans originated in 2017 were sold to secondary market investors, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data released this week. According to the preliminary HMDA data made available by federal regulators, lenders reported $1.738 trillion in first-lien single-family mortgage originations in 2017. HMDA data cover about 96 percent of the market. The biggest buyers were Fannie Mae ... [Includes one data chart]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s ability-to-repay requirements yielded higher costs for lenders and revealed flaws with vendors’ loan originations systems, according to a recent survey of lenders. The ATR rule and standards for qualified mortgages took effect in early 2014. Strategic Mortgage Finance Group surveyed 122 lenders about the regulation earlier this year. Lenders estimated that ATR/QM added $139 per loan to their ongoing origination costs. Only $44 of ...
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