Thanks to stellar fourth quarter MBS issuance – coupled with higher interest rates at Dec. 31 – Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are likely to report their best quarterly earnings of 2016, money that will go directly into the U.S. Treasury. According to interviews conducted by Inside Mortgage Finance this week, the general consensus among observers is that the two government-sponsored enterprises will post a combined profit north of $5.5 billion. In 2016, the two guaranteed...

In general, the Treasury nominee said his goal is to find a “bipartisan solution” to Fannie and Freddie...

One industry source noted: “On January 20, President Trump will be issuing an executive order that freezes all past actions over a certain period of time. The FHA premium reduction gets swept into this.”

DB was faulted for failing to disclose second liens on mortgages in MBS and for concealing refreshed credit scores that were worse that the credit scores disclosed to investors.

One mortgage insurance lobbyist, when informed of the possibility, called it “great news” while two lenders we interviewed said it was an awful development…

Is this the last week on the job for CFPB Director Richard Cordray? Speculation is suddenly growing fast and furiously that the director’s time is about over, that President-elect Trump will use his signature line from his Apprentice television show, “you’re fired” shortly after he is inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2017. What took this once-peripheral issue abruptly into overdrive are press reports that retired U.S. Congressman Randy Neugebauer, R-TX, met with the president elect at Trump Tower in New York City last week to discuss becoming the new head of the CFPB. Neugebauer, the former chairman of the House Financial Services Committee’s Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit Subcommittee, reportedly has not been offered the job, as of press time, and ...

With the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States now just days away, anxiety among defenders of the CFPB that its director, Richard Cordray, may be booted is intensifying, prompting some of his more vocal supporters to make impassioned public pleas to defend him and preserve the agency he heads. Up on Capitol Hill, Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee urged the new president to “reject the Wall Street agenda” and not remove Cordray from his post. “Any attempts to remove Director Cordray from his position are without historical precedent, and intended solely to distract the director and the bureau from its important work protecting servicemembers, students and other borrowers from financial predation,” the ...

Late last week, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals disregarded the objections of the CFPB and gave PHH Corp. permission to respond to the federal government’s arguments in support of en banc review of the court’s earlier three-judge panel decision.“Upon consideration of petitioners’ motion for leave to file a supplemental response to petition for rehearing en banc, the opposition thereto, and the reply, it is ordered that the motion be granted,” 11 of the 12 judges wrote in an order issued Jan. 13. PHH’s supplemental response is due Jan. 27, 2017, and is not to exceed 15 pages. Back in October, the three Republican appointees ruled that the CFPB’s leadership structure involving a single director who can be ...

While many in the mortgage industry wait for the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals to decide whether to rehear the arguments of the CFPB in its wrangling with PHH, the plaintiffs in State National Bank of Big Spring, Texas, et al. v. Lew, et al. have stepped back onto the legal stage at the district court level. Specifically, “Plaintiffs respectfully move [the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia] to hold a status conference at its earliest convenience to determine how this case ... can be most efficiently adjudicated in light of the CFPB’s petition for en banc review of the panel decision in PHH Corp. v. CFPB,” State National Bank and its parties asked the appeals ...

The American Bankers Association sent a letter to the leaders of Congress recently, urging adoption of a bipartisan regulatory relief package that would provide unspecified reform of the CFPB and address an expanded definition of a qualified mortgage. When it comes to the bureau, the ABA urged sensible regulation by restoring “balance to the regulatory process, including Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reform,” and by focusing on promoting both economic growth and safety and soundness. On the QM point, the organization asked lawmakers to “reform mortgage regulations that have raised costs and prevented banks from flexibly serving their customers without enhancing consumer protections or safety and soundness. Most crucially, deeming loans held in portfolio as qualified mortgages will expand safe and ...