A new trade group is showing true love for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Also, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is giving lenders some breathing room on the Qualified Mortgage/Ability-to-Repay rule.

One of the boldest underwriting moves was taken by TD Bank, which recently announced a portfolio loan that has a downpayment requirement as low as 3 percent.

Reverse mortgages guaranteed by the government are due and payable upon the death of the homeowner, the sale of the home, and other conditions, including the failure to reside in the property or pay the taxes and insurance.

The current average interest rate on the mortgages is 3.7 percent. Some 64.3 percent of the loans are structured with graduated payments while the rest are fixed-rate mortgages.

Originally, the technology vendor blamed the shutdown on a cyber-attack by hackers, but then a few weeks later ruled out that explanation.

Lobbyists tracking the bill now believe that a “negotiated” final measure will not be ready for a full committee vote until possibly mid-May.

Meanwhile, rumors abound that Fannie and Freddie may once again be looking at the possibility of selling some of its nonperforming mortgages…

“There are more cases on the way,” said Benjamin Olson, an attorney with Buckley Sandler.

Jumbo MBS issuers typically acquire their loans from a variety of sources. However, only three lenders contributed mortgages to each of the four jumbo MBS issued during the first quarter: Guaranteed Rate, PrimeLending and RPM Mortgage.

Mortgage lenders reported $8.2 billion of new forward FHA loans for February, down from $11.4 billion for January and $19.5 billion from a year ago.