Michael Hutchins agrees to extend term at Freddie; new general counsel at Freddie; senator seeks answers on FHLBank reform efforts; former FHFA chief operating officer loses appeal.

Although FHFA Director Bill Pulte recently put the value of the GSEs at $1 trillion, most estimates are between $300 billion and $600 billion. Meanwhile, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick suggested that only a small portion of the GSEs will be sold via a stock offering.

Attorneys representing those accused of mortgage fraud by FHFA Director Bill Pulte are calling for an investigation into what they say is abuse of his office.

FHFA’s spring regulatory agenda includes plans to scrap nine existing and proposed rules.

According to experts, there are still many impediments to implementing the new VantageScore 4.0 credit score. And some claim the new score is no better than the existing Classic FICO.

An Ohio court found that Freddie’s rosy statements in 2007 about its exposure to subprime and Alt A loans weren’t misleading, in part, because there was no universal definition of those terms at the time.

Fannie ditches legacy terminology related to appraisals; Freddie prices a $707 million SCRT; PIMCO buys 3,044 RPLs from Fannie.

Trump administration hinted a GSE stock sale might resemble its recent Intel deal, potentially seeding a national sovereign wealth fund.

Stress tests show that, even under scenarios considerably worse that the 2008 financial crisis, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would likely remain profitable and continue to support the mortgage market.

Regulatory approval of the merged company creates the second-largest GSE seller and by far the largest GSE servicer.