The development of a common securitization platform for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the progression of a single government-sponsored enterprise security remains an “important priority” for the Federal Housing Finance Agency over the next year, according to the FHFA. The GSE conservator noted in its “2014 Performance and Accountability Report” and the FHFA’s revised “Strategic Plan: Fiscal Years 2015-2019,” both issued last week, that the project is proceeding with deliberate speed. “Most of the software needed for the platform’s core functionality has been put...
The National Flood Insurance Program has been great in providing federal flood insurance coverage to homeowners in high flood-risk areas, but the huge losses incurred by the program during Hurricane Katrina and super-storm Sandy indicate it is time to shift the risk to the private sector, according to industry experts. During a hearing on flood insurance legislation by the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance last week, experts urged lawmakers to stop funneling all flood risk through the NFIP and open the door to private flood insurance providers. The hearing focused...
Financial services trade groups called upon federal banking regulators to reinstate the 100 percent risk-weighting for mortgage servicing rights and to implement other changes as they move forward with the new Basel III risk-based capital rules. In a recent joint letter to bank regulatory agencies, the Mortgage Bankers Association, the American Bankers Association and the Independent Community Bankers of America warned that inaction could seriously affect the availability and cost of mortgages to consumers. The trade groups believe...
The Uniform Law Commission’s latest proposal for a model state act that would regulate foreclosure practices as part of an overlay on current state laws is deeply flawed, according to large servicers represented by the Consumer Mortgage Coalition. In a comment letter submitted to the ULC’s Home Foreclosure Procedures Act Committee last week, Anne Canfield, executive director of the CMC, said the draft HFPA could prompt foreclosure delays and would create new assignee liability. The ULC’s committee on the proposed foreclosure law has been working...
Mortgage servicing compliance is about to get even more complicated as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau late last week proposed changes to its mortgage-servicing regulations on loss mitigation, force-placed insurance disclosures, borrowers in bankruptcy and a host of other matters. On loss mitigation, the bureau is proposing that servicers would have to meet its requirements “more than once in the life of a loan” for borrowers who become current after a delinquency. However, the rule is not clear how many times this could occur over the life of the mortgage. Next, the bureau wants...
Nonbank mortgage servicers are bracing for an onslaught of new capital recommendations from the Conference of State Bank Supervisors, which could see the light of day in early 2015. But the industry did receive one piece of good news: although the CSBS is working on what it calls “options for prudential standards,” the organization will not be addressing capital for nonbank originators, a CSBS official told Inside Mortgage Finance. The group is...
Prior to FHFA’s new directive, Fannie and Freddie required homeowners who have been through foreclosure and want to buy their home back to pay the entire amount owed on the mortgage.
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