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Inside Mortgage Trends

January 9, 2009

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SEC Stands Firm on Fair-Value Accounting As Lenders Brace for More Writedowns

Notwithstanding the damage suffered by mortgage lenders from writing down assets to fair market values, the Securities and Exchange Commission is sticking by its view that the controversial accounting method is necessary to provide transparency to investors and... Read More

FASB Addresses Fair Value Concerns

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has moved to ease what banks think is regulatory overkill in determining whether the declines in the market value of securitized assets should be classified as other-than-temporarily impaired (OTTI), forcing them to take writedowns... Read More

FDIC's IndyMac Sale Highlights Resolution Trend

Federal regulators late last month ended up turning outside the banking industry to find investors for one of the largest mortgage businesses felled by the financial market meltdown of 2008 – and the government will keep a stake in the failed business On the last day of 2008... Read More

GMAC Claims Progress in ResCap Restructuring

Fresh off a $6 billion infusion from the Treasury Department late last month, GMAC announced this week it has made “significant progress” in restructuring Residential Capital – but it did not guarantee the future of its struggling home mortgage subsidiary. "In response to various... Read More

Are Lenders Relying Too Much on Benchmarks?

The broad metrics used by traditional, widely-used housing valuation tools, such as the Case-Schiller Indexes and Economy.com, are causing billions of dollars in losses from under- and overvaluation, according to research done by industry economists from the Massachusetts firm... Read More

Service Promises to Detect, Correct ARM Errors

The cratering of the mortgage market has led to increasing focus among lenders and technology providers on developing solutions to provide more transparency and improved risk management tools. First American Outsourcing and Technology Solutions, part of the First American... Read More

Fed Finds Independent Lenders Hit Hard

Federal Reserve researchers say that a staggering number of independent mortgage companies went under in 2007, many of which utilized predatory lending techniques in their business operations. According to Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data, the number of independent mortgage... Read More

Congress to Take Another Stab at TARP

House Democrats are preparing legislation that would provide more stimulus to the mortgage market and more direct federal involvement in lenders’ loss mitigation efforts. Rep. Barney Frank, D-MA, this week released the outline of draft legislation that gives more direct... Read More

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