Acting Ginnie Mae President Maren Kasper: “The RFI enables the agency to incorporate the views of a wide variety of stakeholders as we continue to refine the model, implement policy and evaluate potential risk to the U.S. housing finance system.”

According to new figures released by Black Knight, mortgage prepayments declined by 7.5% in June despite mortgage rates being under the 4.0% threshold. The data analytics firm said it was the first decline in prepays in five months. Go figure…

Veterans are charged a funding fee at origination to cover the cost of administering a VA-guaranteed loan. However, certain veterans are exempt from the fee…

Equifax, while agreeing to the settlement, denied the charges in a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission: “The company’s participation in the consumer settlement does not constitute an admission by the company of any fault or liability, and the company does not admit fault or liability," the vendors said.

Back in early June, the share price of Fannie/Freddie common was rallying, reaching $3.16 (for the former) and $3.07 for the latter. If you had bought in at those prices, today you’d be looking at losses of 23.1% and 24.7%, respectively.

Like many other governmental housing agencies, CBC provides downpayment assistance through the Chenoa Fund to first-time homebuyers seeking to purchase a home with FHA financing.

Banks and other lenders typically hire third-party collectors to recoup debt or sell the accounts to debt buyers. There are approximately 9,330 debt collectors/buyers in the U.S., said the bureau.

“The proposal we are considering would remove one potential obstacle IDIs [independent depository institutions] face in providing mortgage credit to homeowners,” said FDIC Chairman Jelena McWilliams.

Mike Fontaine, CFO of Plaza Home Mortgage, said servicers can recognize significant benefits from advance financing. “When you have a Ginnie portfolio, servicing advances can be a rather large cash drain,” he said. “If you have the ability to finance that piece of it, it will provide more liquidity.”

In a new opinion piece, former Freddie CEO Don Layton argues against having multiple MBS guarantors, a position he’s taken in the past. Layton, who now bides his time at the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, argues the barriers to entering the secondary guarantee business are high, “possibly even insurmountable.”