Ginnie Mae servicers reported a small increase in servicing volume during the first three months of 2013, with Ocwen Loan Servicing posting the largest gains from last quarter and from a year ago. Servicers held a total of $1.33 trillion in government-backed mortgage debt outstanding at the end of the quarter, up a notch from the fourth quarter and 8.2 percent more than the total Ginnie Mae servicing debt a year ago. Though Ocwen was fifth in the ranking with $36.08 billion, its servicing volume was up more than 1000 percent both from the last quarter and from the same period last year. Among the top Ginnie servicers, only ... [One chart]

The prospect of legislation being offered that would grant the Department of Housing and Urban Development greater authority to manage the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage program has improved significantly after two House lawmakers declared their intention to introduce a bipartisan bill. Reps. Michael Fitzpatrick, R-PA, and Denny Heck, D-WA, announced during a recent hearing by the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance that they will co-sponsor legislation to give the FHA the authority it needs to swiftly implement HECM reforms by mortgagee letter. Fitzpatrick expressed his support for ...

A top official of the Department of Housing and Urban Development said the agency is as concerned as Congress and the industry about mortgages seized through the power of eminent domain and will not refinance any mortgage taken in this manner. Testifying at a recent hearing before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance, Charles Coulter, deputy assistant secretary for housing, said FHA leadership is very much concerned about the idea of seizing troubled mortgages held in private-label securitizations under the power of ...

Investors are paying more for vintage non-agency MBS with repurchase disputes and pending settlements than securities not involved in representation and warranty litigation, according to analysts at Amherst Securities Group. The increased pricing comes as the proposed $8.5 billion settlement on non-agency MBS issued by Countrywide Financial nears its conclusion. In the past year, pricing on non-agency MBS involved in rep and warrant litigation outperformed securities not subject to such lawsuits, according to Amherst. “It appears these securities received different treatment, as investors likely included recovery cash flows, and priced the bonds accordingly,” the analysts said. As an example, Amherst pointed...

Two repurchase lawsuits in the New York state court involving allegedly defective mortgage-backed securities and the state’s six-year statute of limitations have resulted in different outcomes for defendants, one of which could potentially limit MBS putback claims in the Empire State. In a May 13 decision, Justice O. Peter Sherwood of the Commercial Division of the New York Supreme Court dismissed with prejudice a $259 million MBS putback lawsuit against Nomura Credit & Capital. The decision was significant in part because it was the first among dozens of MBS putback cases currently pending in NY state court that was dismissed with prejudice on grounds that the six-year statute of limitations has expired, according to defense attorneys. Two affiliates of hedge fund Fir Tree Partners filed...

A New York federal judge has allowed the Justice Department to proceed with its civil fraud lawsuit against Bank of America in connection with the packaging and sale of mortgage-backed securities to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but not before dismissing a significant portion of the government’s claim. U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff dismissed claims for damages and penalties under the False Claims Act in an expedited ruling two weeks ago. In October 2012, the government filed suit against BofA, as successor to Countrywide, alleging BofA inherited and continued to operate Countrywide’s loan program known as the “Hustle.”

A federal appeals court has ruled in favor of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, overturning a lower court ruling that the counties and state of Michigan were entitled to collect local real estate transfer taxes from the two government-sponsored enterprises. This week’s unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit said the lower court is not in a position to second-guess Congress by creating exemptions to tax statutes. “The statutes at issue here plainly state that the defendants are exempt from ‘all taxation,’” the court ruled. In June 2011, Oakland and Genesee counties each filed suit claiming Fannie and Freddie recorded deeds and other conveyances without paying the Michigan Transfer Tax.

Whichever way the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the constitutionality of presidential recess appointments, the decision would probably cause more uncertainty and turbulence in the industries the ruling will likely affect, according to legal and policy analysts. SCOTUS is considering a petition filed last month by the Obama administration and the National Labor Relations Board to review a controversial ruling by the District of Columbia Court of Appeals that calls into question the validity of President Obama’s appointment of three new members of the board in January. In Noel Canning v. NLRB, the plaintiff challenged...

SunTrust Mortgage is in settlement discussions with the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Justice over alleged violation of the False Claims Act in connection with the bank’s origination of FHA loans. The Atlanta-based mortgage lender disclosed the ongoing talks in a recent regulatory filing after being notified by the agencies of the results of their preliminary investigation during the first quarter of 2013. Even with the ongoing settlement talks, SunTrust continued to deny any wrongdoing, making clear its disagreement with the government’s analysis and methodology. It gave no further ...

Changes to the FHA’s mortgage insurance premium cancellation policy, which take effect on June 3, could ultimately cause some FHA loans closed after the effective date to become a “higher-priced mortgage loan” that no investor would want to purchase, lenders warned. Eliminating the MIP cancellation and requiring insurance to be kept for the life of the mortgage loan will raise the annual percentage rate 150 basis points above the average prime offer rate (APOR) index. This will trigger a higher-priced mortgage loan (HPML) designation for some ...