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Inside Mortgage Finance

May 7, 2009

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Mortgage Banking Profits Soar in Early 2009 As Margins Widen and Competition Eases

Mortgage bankers very quietly wrote a new benchmark for profitability during the first three months of 2009 by generating over $9 billion in earnings – the industry’s best quarter on record – during a period when most financial services businesses were still struggling to stay upright. A group of 24 top mortgage lenders reported... [Includes one graph] Read More

Refinance Boom Yields Little Growth in Servicing For Many Top Lenders; Consolidation Rush Slows

The top tier of the mortgage servicing business saw a modest decline in the volume of loans in its aggregate portfolio during the first quarter of 2009 as slumping housing markets continued to shrink the supply of mortgage debt outstanding. The top five servicers in the industry, which together handle some $6.510 trillion in home loans , posted a modest 0.1 percent... [Includes one chart and one graph] Read More

Senate Rejects Cramdown Plan, Approves Revised Servicer Safe Harbor in New Mortgage Legislation

The Senate late last week voted to reject a controversial proposal to allow bankruptcy courts to modify mortgages on a borrower’s principal residence, a proposal supported by the Obama administration and already approved by the House. The lead proponent of the so-called cramdown provision, Sen. Richard Durbin, D-IL, had earlier this year appeared to break through stiff industry... Read More

Qualifying GSE Loan Modifications Would Get Housing Goal Credit Under FHFA Proposal

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would, for the first time, get affordable housing goal credit for executing loan modifications – as long as they are consistent with the Obama administration’s housing rescue initiatives – under a proposed regulation issued last week by the Federal Housing Finance Agency. FHFA critics, however, were quick to challenge the rationale for publishing any... Read More

Borrowers Still Refinance Fairly Often, But 2009 Crop Has New Characteristics

The surge in mortgage refinance activity in recent months has a unique flavor compared to similar refi waves, with fewer cash-out transactions and significant reductions in the mortgage payment, according to a new Freddie Mac survey. The government-sponsored enterprise said nearly half of the refi loans sold to Freddie during the first quarter of 2009 had a new mortgage rate that... Read More

Fannie, Freddie Will Enforce the HVCC Through Reps and Warranties Under GSE Seller Guides

Mortgage lenders that have adopted Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s Home Valuation Code of Conduct will have to assert compliance with the code in the representations and warranties, just as they do for other delivery requirements on loans sold to the two government-sponsored enterprises. Spokespersons for the two GSEs said that effective May 1, the HVCC became part of Fannie’s and... Read More

House Bill Would Give Servicers Obligation To Help Stem Foreclosure Mitigation Scams

The growing number of homeowners seeking loan modifications or other alternatives to foreclosure has spawned a rash of scams, and House Democrats have offered new federal legislation to protect homeowners from these abuses. The Foreclosure Rescue Fraud Act of 2009, sponsored by Rep. Gwen Moore, D-WI, and Financial Services Committee Chairman Rep. Barney Frank, D-MA, was introduced at... Read More

Early Floor Debate Held on H.R. 1728, House Vote to Proceed as Planned

Floor debate came a day early for H.R. 1728, the Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act of 2009, with House Republicans reintroducing some of the amendments that were rejected during markup in hope of watering down certain controversial provisions in the bill. The House is scheduled to consider amendments to the legislation as Inside Mortgage Finance goes to press late this... Read More

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