Antonio Weiss, counselor to the secretary of the Treasury Department, cautioned that any reduction to the corporate tax rate could prompt a draw from Treasury funds by the GSEs.
The Trump administration is expected to put a temporary freeze on the 25 basis point cut in FHA annual premiums that is scheduled to take effect Jan. 27. One industry source noted: “On Jan. 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.” Sources told...
What once seemed like an idle speculation – the potential ouster of Richard Cordray as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau – suddenly looks more likely. Last week, President-elect Donald Trump met with Randy Neugebauer, the former Texas Republican member of the House Financial Services Committee, who is under consideration as a replacement for Cordray, according to multiple press accounts. Neugebauer reportedly has not been offered the job, as of press time, nor have other candidates been considered for the position. “I heard...
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit last week gave PHH Corp. the green light to weigh in on the legal arguments the Justice Department made late last year in support of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s petition for an en banc rehearing of its dispute with the lender. The appeals court did so over the objections of the CFPB, and with 11 of the 12 judges in agreement and one not participating. PHH had argued that it ought to be able to respond to the second of two government arguments in favor of the review. Privately, some industry insiders thought...
Legislative reform of the government-sponsored enterprises doesn’t appear to be a high priority for Republican lawmakers, but President-elect Donald Trump’s plans to reduce the corporate tax rate could inadvertently prompt some GSE reform activity, according to industry analysts. As of the end of the third quarter of 2016, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had a combined $53.80 billion in deferred tax assets. The DTAs result from differences between the carrying amounts of existing assets and liabilities under generally accepted accounting principles and their respective tax bases. The DTAs are...
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...
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.