Before joining the FHFA in late 2011, Hornsby spent 26 years at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, the last 10 under Janet Yellen, who is now the nation’s central banker.

CSP watchers say the GSE platform is starting to look like an orphan under director Mel Watt. But will Watt mention the project in his first public speech next week?

Based on what Freddie's Layton said, one might think that going forward, the GSEs might barely break even. Maybe that’s why the GSEs – and not necessarily Mel Watt – want to hike their guaranty fees…

Did someone in the mortgage industry actually ask one of the GSEs recently to increase the 25 basis point servicing fee that it pays to residential servicers?

The Senate’s GSE reform proposal in its current form would create an extremely high risk for Freddie Mac’s core policy functions during the bill’s proposed five-year wind down of the company, Freddie’s chief executive warned. In a confidential memo to Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt that was leaked to the media, Freddie CEO Donald Layton said that the housing finance reform legislation by Sens. Tim Johnson, D-SD, and Mike Crapo, R-ID, fails to state clearly that the GSEs’ core policy function must be maintained and such an omission would create potentially crippling uncertainty among staffers during the transition.

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.

“The examiner-in-charge apparently thought that the owner was lying, and the CFPB now wants to question him under oath,” principal Joe Garrett writes in a note to his clients.

At one shop based in the Midwest there’s unconfirmed talk of loan officers who haven’t been paid for months, unpaid leases and top executives who were on vacation as volumes collapsed.

Attorney Richard Andreano noted that the rule’s bonus provisions remain confusing for many lenders.

The servicing rules implemented by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at the beginning of this year appear to have resulted in improvements to customer service along with increased costs for servicers, according to industry analysts. “Most servicers have adapted their operations to make the customer experience a key focus of their servicing operations,” according to analysts at Standard & Poor’s. When reviewing servicers, S&P said...