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Inside Mortgage Finance

March 24, 2011

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FHFA Inspector General Probes Relationships Between GSEs and Servicers, Buyback Deals

The Office of Inspector General at the Federal Housing Finance Agency has launched investigations into how closely the regulator monitors the relationships between Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and mortgage servicers, as well as recent settlements of repurchase liability by the government-sponsored enterprises with major lenders. Fannie and Freddie maintain... Read More

Alleged Misuse of Captive Reinsurance at the Core of Countrywide’s $34 Million Settlement with PA Borrowers

A proposed $34 million settlement between Bank of America’s Countrywide Home Loans unit and Pennsylvania borrowers apparently would have no significant impact on mortgage lenders and private mortgage insurers unless “captive reinsurance” makes a big comeback, according to industry attorneys. Though captive reinsurance arrangements are... Read More

New FHA Report Discloses Little About Status of the Fund, Still Bumps Ahead

The Department of Housing and Urban Development reported a modest decline in FHA total capital resources during the final three months of 2010, suggesting that the program made little or no progress coming into compliance with capital ratio standards mandated by Congress. Total capital resources in the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund decreased... Read More

House GOP Bill Would Shift CFPB From Director Model to 5-Member Commission

The still un-named, un-nominated director of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau would be replaced by a five-member commission at the top of the bureau’s leadership pyramid under a bill filed in the House last week as Republicans press hard to curtail the influence of an agency they consider... Read More

Home Purchase Mortgage Market Takes Another Hit In February As Cash Transactions Climb to 34 Percent

The home purchase mortgage market, which has taken on new importance as refinance activity has declined, isn’t looking particularly good in early 2011. According to new numbers released this week by the Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey, cash deals represented... Read More

Mortgage Servicer Settlement Proposal Faces Divisions Within Attorney General Coalition

Even before talks have begun to resolve a nationwide probe of foreclosure and mortgage-servicing practices, there is dissent within the coalition of 50 state attorneys general and federal regulators as a number of the state AGs have voiced concern about the government’s initial proposal. The 27-page draft settlement proposal delivered... Read More

Declining Mortgage Broker Business, More Correspondent Production Reduced ‘Direct’ Mortgage Originations in 2010

The continuing decline in mortgage broker production and the growing success of wholesale correspondent originations led to a slowdown in “direct” mortgage originations in 2010, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis. Direct mortgage originations include...[Includes one data chart] Read More

Fed Refuses to Budge on LO Compensation Rule Implementation Despite Growing Clamor for Delay

The Federal Reserve appears dead set on having the controversial final rule on loan officer compensation take effect as scheduled on April 1 as it held its first online public discussion of the rule’s key provisions last week. During the March 17 webinar, senior Fed staff attorneys Paul Mondor and Nikita Pastor went... Read More

Treasury May Put More Pressure on Mortgage Servicers as It Tries to Bolster HAMP Results

The Treasury Department is under growing pressure to lean on mortgage servicers to get better results from the widely criticized Home Affordable Modification Program. During a hearing in the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee last week, Neil Barofsky, special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, pushed... Read More

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