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Inside Mortgage Trends

September 26, 2008

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New Securitization Accounting Rules May Change Profitability of Mortgage Lending

Investors and regulators are backing new accounting rules that may drastically overhaul the economics of mortgage securitization for loan originators, but some industry experts say the changes are being pushed too quickly without considering better alternatives.The Financial Accounting Standards Board last week released proposed changes to its rules on the transfers of... Read More

Agencies Tighten Oversight of Seller/Servicers

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae are dominating the U.S. mortgage market like never before, and management at all three agencies are gradually tightening their standards for lenders participating in their programs. According to data compiled by Inside MBS & ABS, an affiliated newsletter, the three organizations accounted for a whopping 77 percent of total... Read More

Lender Settles Dispute Over Freddie Status

R&G Financial Corp. and two subsidiaries have repaired their seller/servicer relationship with Freddie Mac after arranging to sell off $5.1 billion of agency mortgage servicing rights. Another Puerto Rican financial institution, Banco Popular, will pay $34 million for the servicing rights in a transaction that’s expected to close in the fourth quarter. Under the terms of... Read More

WaMu Fails, Parts Sold to JPMorgan Chase

The competitive landscape in the mortgage took another major turn this week when federal regulators put Washington Mutual out of its misery, with the failed thrift’s mortgage business being picked up by JPMorgan Chase. WaMu had catapulted to the top tier of the mortgage business through a series of large acquisitions, including the purchase of subprime mortgage... [Includes one graph] Read More

S&P Says More Banks Likely to Go Under

The banking industry is not out of the woods yet, according to a recent report released by Standard and Poor’s, although the rating service said the number of U.S. bank failures is not likely to surpass the number of failures in 1980s-90s. Since the start of 2008, 11 banks have failed, the highest number since 2002, but still lower than those of previous economic... Read More

ABA Estimates Huge Lending Drops from GSE Exposure; FDIC to Offer Assistance

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. announced that it will develop “capital restoration plans” for institutions that have significant holdings of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac stock that is now paying no dividends and has been reduced to junk value as a result of the government takeover the two secondary market giants. While banking regulators initially said the takeover the... Read More

Fitch Sees Advantage with VantageScore

The ongoing housing and mortgage slump has pushed market participants to rethink nearly every aspect of how they do business, and finding a better method to gauge future loan performance may be one of the small benefits of the downturn. Fitch Ratings says it can gain consistency and accuracy, and breadth in its credit scoring model by adopting VantageScore, a credit... Read More

Home Savings, ViewPoint, New Penn Go Against Trend, Expand Mortgage Business

While most banks and lenders are bracing for continued losses in the mortgage industry by closing doors or consolidating, a few have decided that the troubled market signals room for expansion. Home Savings of America, based in Little Falls, MN, Pennsylvania-based New Penn Financial and ViewPoint Bankers Mortgage, out of Plano, TX, have each added new offices to expand loan... Read More

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As homeowner equity continues to build, more and more lenders are launching home equity lending products. Are you thinking of joining this market?

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