The council said any distress that affects the secondary mortgage market activities of the GSEs “could pose a risk to financial stability if those risks are not properly mitigated.”
When questioned about the steep fee the GSEs charge to buy early forbear-ance loans, the FHFA director turned the tables on the lawmakers: Why didn’t Congress pay for it in the CARES Act?
FHFA officers told the inspector general that they believed performing some of the required security assessments “was an inefficient use of agency resources.”
Housing-finance watchers are gearing up for December when the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments challenging the government’s net worth sweep of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac profits.
The Structured Finance Association said it is concerned FHFA believes that, if the GSEs have capital levels similar to banks, the need for an explicit guarantee will be eliminated.
Nonprofit groups said the new rule will lead to higher guarantee fees, potentially pricing many low-income families and families of color out of the GSE channel.
Models using the most likely assumptions about retained earnings, capital requirements and expected returns suggest the GSEs would have unsuccessful public offerings.
The FHFA, which serves as the regulator and conservator of the GSEs, lacks the authority to supervise Fannie’s and Freddie’s third-party cloud service providers.
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