The mortgage industry cannot and should not wait for Congress to get around to a legislative solution to the government-sponsored enterprises when much of what is necessary can be accomplished administratively, according to experts at a forum hosted by the Urban Institute and CoreLogic. Andrew Davidson, president of Andrew Davidson & Co., noted that among the lessons of this year’s failure to launch a Senate GSE reform bill is that lawmakers find it easier to agree on a set of principles for a mortgage finance system than on the system’s design. With legislation a long shot before the 2016 presidential elections, Davidson said...

Originations by nonbanks of loans that don’t meet standards for qualified mortgages are off to a slow start, according to industry participants. “There is obviously a lot of noise in the area, a lot of announcements about people getting involved. And from what we have seen, there is nothing of any size and replicable flow that seems readily securitizable,” Michael Commaroto, CEO of Apollo Residential Mortgage, said this week during a call with investors. He said ...

Lenders can vary the compensation paid to loan originators for portfolio loans versus originations of mortgages to be sold to investors, but only in certain circumstances, according to officials at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The LO compensation rule issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in 2013 provides a two-part proxy analysis to determine whether LO comp can be based on certain factors. FDIC officials addressed questions regarding the LO comp rule in a recent webinar ...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development will not take on the new points-and-fees cure provision for qualified mortgages adopted by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The agency is concerned that lenders might inadvertently violate the FHA’s statutory 3.5 percent downpayment requirement. HUD adopted other changes in the CFPB’s revised final rule on ability to repay and qualified mortgages (ATR/QM) to maintain consistency but saw no need for any further ability to cure points-and-fees errors. Reimbursement of any excess points and fees to the borrower could take away from the mandatory 3.5 percent downpayment and render the loan ineligible for FHA insurance, the agency explained in a notice published in the Nov. 3 Federal Register. HUD said it would provide lender guidance under its own QM rule on ...

Reinstating the government-sponsored enterprises’ conventional 97 percent loan-to-value mortgage programs would benefit first-time homebuyers and borrowers with little or no cash reserves for a downpayment but adversely affect the FHA Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund, according to analysts. If limited to first-time homebuyers, a conventional 97 LTV loan would offer some new homeowners better home loan financing than FHA and provide greater access to mortgage credit, said analysts with Bank of America Merrill Lynch. For years, Fannie Mae offered conventional 97 LTV loans through its MyCommmunityMortgage to help first-time homebuyers purchase a home with only a 3 percent downpayment. It was a better alternative to FHA’s main product, which required a 3.5 percent downpayment. The Fannie product also had less ...

The Treasury Department isn’t doing enough to address issues with servicing transfers in the Home Affordable Modification Program, according to the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program. The SIGTARP warned that complaints about servicing transfers are “escalating,” though that’s from a low base, with only 84 complaints from borrowers this year. “The serious problems raised by homeowners include lost and delayed HAMP applications, trial and permanent modifications not being honored, and the miscalculation or misapplication of monthly payments,” the SIGTARP said in a report released last week. The Treasury monitors...

A proposal from the Conference of State Bank Supervisors to increase reporting requirements on state mortgage call reports has been met with strong resistance from a number of lender trade groups. In October, the CSBS proposed collecting additional quarterly information regarding qualified mortgages and servicing, among other data submitted as part of the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry’s mortgage call report. The comment period closed late last week. “We join...

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac reported a combined $6.0 billion in net income for the third quarter of 2014, up from $5.1 billion in the previous quarter. The two government-sponsored enterprises will send to the Treasury $6.8 billion as return on the government’s senior preferred stock. That will bring cumulative payments under the GSE conservatorships to $225.5 billion. Fannie and Freddie were given...

Modified Freddie Mac mortgages performed better than Fannie Mae loans more than two years after modification as the performance gap between the two GSE closed slowly, according to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The OCC’s latest Mortgage Metrics Report noted that Freddie loans had a 15.5 percent re-default rate six months after modification, while Fannie mods saw a 16.2 percent rate.At the 12-month mark, Freddie stood at 21.9 percent compared to Fannie’s 23.2 percent.

The Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee brought the latest installment in its quantitative easing programs to a conclusion this week, but the central bank will continue to reinvest principal payments back into agency MBS. The FOMC also reaffirmed the current 0 to 0.25 percent target range for the federal funds rate. “The committee anticipates … that it likely will be appropriate to maintain the 0 to 0.25 percent target range for the federal funds rate for a considerable time following the end of its asset purchase program this month, especially if projected inflation continues to run below the committee’s 2 percent longer-run goal, and provided that longer-term inflation expectations remain well anchored.” And as usual, the Fed left...