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Inside Mortgage Finance

November 6, 2009

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Mortgage Lenders Fret as Lawmakers Begin Vote On Measure Requiring More ‘Skin in the Game’

The House Financial Services Committee this week began a week-long markup of legislation that would require mortgage lenders to hold onto as much as 10 percent of the risk associated with each loan they originate and then sell off. The retained interest provisions would also apply to securitizers of mortgages and other financial assets. The Credit Risk Retention Act of 2009 has been folded into a larger... Read More

Agency MBS Volume Drops Sharply in October; Ginnie Challenges for Lead

Mortgage securitization activity fell sharply in October, with total production by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae slumping by 22.6 percent from the previous month, according to a new ranking and analysis based on the Inside Mortgage Finance MBS Database. The biggest declines were at the government-sponsored enterprises. Fannie issued $39.39 billion of single-family mortgage-backed... Read More

Higher GSE, FHA Loan Limits Extended, Homebuyer Tax Credit Poised for Senate Vote

Congress and the White House are expected to extend and expand the first-time homebuyer tax credit until the end of April, with an additional 60-day extension if a binding home purchase contract is in place by that date. Under a late-breaking compromise, the $8,000 credit would continue for first-time homebuyers, and a new $6,500 credit for “step-up” homebuyers would be available to those who owned... Read More

Ranking of Top Servicers Little Changed in Third Quarter as Overall Market Still Idling

Top mortgage servicers continued to tread water in the third quarter of 2009, as slumping origination volume and weak housing markets kept the industry at a standstill. Five of the top 10 servicers in the industry saw their portfolios decline slightly during the quarter, and preliminary data suggest that the overall market declined by 0.4 percent from the end of June. At the top of the ranking, Bank of... Read More

States to Begin Stringent Audits of Multi-State Lenders, Compliance Could be Difficult, Costlier, Attorneys Warn

While the financial services industry is preoccupied with ongoing legislative and regulatory re-structuring and beefed-up consumer protection, an ominous multi-state examination regime is about to hit large mortgage lenders. Industry attorneys this week warned that the Conference of State Bank Supervisors and the American Association of Residential Mortgage Regulators are poised for a nationwide launch... Read More

House Committees to Reconcile Differences over CFPA Command Structure before Floor Vote

Two House committees are at odds over the leadership structure of the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency after one of them, the House Energy and Commerce Committee, approved an amendment calling for a five-member commission in lieu of a single director to oversee the new federal agency. Industry lobbyists, however, expect the issue to be resolved before H.R. 3126, the Consumer Financial Protection... Read More

News in Brief

A long-awaited financial audit of the FHA program wasn’t ready for prime time this week, forcing the Department of Housing and Urban Development to abruptly postpone its scheduled release. “Last evening, the independent auditor that prepares the FHA’s actuarial study notified HUD and FHA that the report will not, in fact, be final in time for today’s press briefing,” HUD spokeswoman Melanie... Read More

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