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Inside Mortgage Finance

August 8, 2008

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Wells Fargo Hits Midyear Mark as Top Lender In Rapidly Changing Mortgage Servicing Market

The snapshot of the mortgage servicing business taken at the end of June reveals an industry on the brink of a major shakeup and headed toward even greater consolidation. Wells Fargo edged into the lead as the top servicer in the market as of the end of the second quarter, with $1.496 trillion in servicing, according to a new ranking and analysis... [Includes one chart and one graph] Read More

Freddie 2Q08 Results Squashed by Deteriorating Credit Quality Despite Positive Trends in Underlying Business

The second quarter dumped a mixed bag of financial results on Freddie Mac, which reported a hefty loss of $821 million – worse than Wall Street was expecting – even though some business fundamentals looked fairly solid. “Our credit guarantee business and mortgage portfolio both saw strong, high-quality growth,” CFO Buddy Piszel said. “Freddie Mac’s revenue increased by more than 10... Read More

Fannie, Freddie Boost Incentives to Servicers, Catching Up With Escalating Costs to Head Off Rising Foreclosures

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac late last week made some substantial upgrades to the packages of financial incentives they offer to servicers that help struggling homeowners avoid foreclosure. Freddie basically doubled its servicer compensation package. The government-sponsored enterprise announced that compensation for repayment plans will rise from $250 to $500, while the... Read More

Fannie Mae Incurs Wrath of Housing Industry With A Hike in Adverse Market Delivery Charge

For the fourth time in almost a year, Fannie Mae announced increased fees on mortgage loans, a move that illustrates the government-sponsored enterprise’s efforts to keep up with credit risks in the deteriorating market. Fannie raised its “adverse market delivery charge” from 0.25 percent to 0.50 percent for whole loans purchased on or after Oct. 1, 2008, and for mortgage loans delivered in... Read More

RESPA ‘Curse’ Afflicts Latest Reform Effort as Industry Trade Groups Oppose Finalization of Current Proposal

It is déjà vu all over again as stakeholders united to urge the Department of Housing and Urban Development to drop or reconsider a pending proposal to reform Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act regulations and work instead with the Federal Reserve Board to combine RESPA and Truth in Lending Act disclosures. In a July 31 letter to both HUD and the Office of Management and Budget... Read More

New Housing Law Calls for Long Overdue Upgrade Of FHA Technology, But With Strings Attached

After over twenty-five years of neglect, technology systems at the FHA could get a major make-over if the program stays in the black.The new Housing and Economic Recovery Act, HERA, signed into law last week authorizes up to $125 million over a five-year period ending in fiscal year 2013 for the Department of Housing and Urban Development to improve its technology systems and... Read More

Subprime Lending More Likely in Markets With Rapid Housing Growth, Study Shows

A statistical analysis of the subprime market suggests that the areas with large amounts of new construction and rapidly rising house prices also were more likely to attract subprime lending. The study, by Chris Mayer, senior vice dean at Columbia Business School, and Karen Pence, a Federal Reserve economist, found the highest concentrations of subprime originations in 2005 were... Read More

Ginnie Soars in July

Ginnie Mae accounted for a huge 30.0 percent of total mortgage securitization activity in July, according to a new analysis by Inside MBS & ABS, an affiliated newsletter. The agency issued $25.65 billion in new MBS during the month, down slightly from June. But both Fannie and Freddie saw even bigger monthly declines and the non-agency MBS market sank... [Includes one chart] Read More

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