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Inside Mortgage Finance

March 25, 2010

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Lawmakers Try to Jump-Start GSE Overhaul Debate as Geithner Provides Some Faint Clues

Under pressure from Congress, the Obama administration began laying out guidelines for overhauling the U.S. mortgage finance system that would preserve a lot of the infrastructure at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in completely new organizations with tougher oversight and more narrowly defined government support. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner this week said the administration’s reform proposal... Read More

House Republicans Offer GSE Plan

Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee outlined a plan to resolve the conservatorships of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as part of a broader mortgage reform proposal. They suggested: Cut the mortgage portfolio holdings of Fannie and Freddie by 25 percent a year over... Read More

Senate Republicans Prepare to Make Democrats Pay For Every Page of Dodd’s Regulatory Reform Bill

Senate Republicans submitted more than 300 amendments to weaken or kill major provisions in a regulatory reform bill that passed without debate through the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs this week. Regulatory reform legislation unveiled by Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-CT, on March 15 cleared the committee on a party line vote of 13-10, sending the bill to the... Read More

Refinance Share Reached Second-Highest Level Ever In 2009, But Downturn Could Be Steeper Than Usual

Refinance activity accounted for a hefty 69 percent of mortgage originations in 2009, the biggest market share of new production since the record year of 2003. A total of $1.257 trillion of refinance mortgages were originated last year, a 66 percent jump from 2008 that more than offset a sharp 25 percent drop in home-purchase mortgage lending... [Includes three charts and one graph] Read More

Short Sale Activity Has Climbed to Record Level Even Before New Government Initiative Launched

While the government’s new Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternative program is expected to give short sale activity a big boost next month when it is officially rolled out, new data reveal that mortgage servicers already are approving short sales at a record pace this year. According to the latest Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance Monthly Survey of... [Includes one graph] Read More

Agencies Had Difficult Time Implementing Risk-Based Pricing Adverse Action Notice System

Government officials had a hard time devising new federal regulations requiring lenders to tell consumers if the price they’re getting on their mortgage is less favorable than the deal other borrowers get because of their credit score. The outcome of the new rule, which takes effect in January 2011, is likely to be more consumers getting copies of their credit scores as part of the... Read More

Fannie Unveils Retroactive Mod Option For Borrowers Left Behind by HAMP

Fannie Mae announced a new initiative to modify mortgages of borrowers who were unable to qualify for a permanent restructuring under the Home Affordable Modification Program. Although HAMP saw increased activity in February, Bank of America and other servicers are moving to alternative modification methods to mitigate losses, including more emphasis on principal forgiveness... Read More

Citi Unit Hit on HMDA

CitiFinancial this week agreed to pay $1.25 million to a group of state mortgage regulators for failing to submit annual Home Mortgage Disclosure Act reports over a four-year period. The Conference of State Bank Supervisors and American Association of Residential Mortgage Regulators said the agreement stemmed from an examination by state regulators in Massachusetts... Read More

Ginnie Mae Buyouts Accounted for Significant Share of Lender Repurchase Activity in 2009

Many mortgage bankers significantly stepped up their repurchases of defaulted FHA and VA loans from Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities last year, a voluntary tactic to boost income and minimize servicing expenses. As of the end of 2009, commercial banks held some $50.01 billion of “rebooked” Ginnie Mae mortgages on their balance sheet, according to the... [Includes one chart] Read More

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