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Inside Mortgage Finance

April 7, 2011

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GSE Business Drops Sharply in Early 2011 As Refinance Production Begins to Slow

American consumers have their own plan for winding down the government-sponsored enterprises: they’re refinancing less and showing little interest in borrowing to buy a new home. New business volume at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac plummeted by 21.3 percent from the fourth quarter of 2010 to... [Includes three data charts] Read More

Brokers Lose Bid to Stop Implementation of Fed’s Controversial LO Compensation Rule

New restrictions on loan originator compensation are now in effect nationwide after a federal appeals court this week lifted a temporary stay of the Federal Reserve Board’s final rule on loan originator compensation. In a one-page decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit held that... Read More

Proposed Premium-Capture Provision in New Risk- Retention Rule Faces Significant Industry Pushback

Mortgage lenders and other industry groups are expected to lobby federal regulators to abandon a controversial “premium capture account” provision that the agencies incorporated into the new risk-retention proposed rule released last week. The regulators’ newly proposed definition of... Read More

Jekyll-Hyde Dynamic on Display as GOP Measures On Fannie, Freddie Disjointedly Pass Subcommittee

House Republicans this week pushed through a package of eight bills generally designed to bolster oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and clamp down on their activities while in conservatorship, but it took some doing. The House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises Subcommittee labored in... Read More

Freddie Asserts Its Standing to Approve Lender Deals to Settle MI Disputes With Private MIs

Freddie Mac late last week reminded lenders that it prohibits arrangements where lenders compensate mortgage insurers for losses on certain Freddie-owned loans, in exchange for the insurers agreeing not to rescind coverage of those loans. The government-sponsored enterprise drew attention to... Read More

Republican Bills Reflect Industry Views on CFPB Leadership, Restrictions on Power

Banks and credit unions lined up this week in support of Republican legislative proposals to have a commission of experts, rather than a single director, lead the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection in overseeing consumer credit products and services. Testifying before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit, industry trade groups said... Read More

Lender Captive MI Business Continued to Fade Away in 2010, But Nearly $2 Billion Still at Play

The once-booming business of captive mortgage reinsurance operations sponsored by major mortgage lenders continued to decline in 2010, according to a new analysis of private mortgage insurer regulatory filings by Inside Mortgage Trends, an affiliated newsletter. Private MIs ceded some... [Includes one data chart] Read More

Servicers, Regulators Reportedly Nearing Agreement on Settlements Without Fines

The country’s top mortgage servicers are reportedly close to signing agreements with federal banking regulators to settle allegations of business improprieties and bad servicing practices without having to pay fines. Neither the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the lead agency in talks with... Read More

CFPB on Schedule to Get Off Ground, But Launch May Drag in Face of Political Adversity, Experts Say

Politics, not legislation, is going to be the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s biggest hurdle come this summer when it goes into action, some experts said at a symposium sponsored this week by Women in Housing and Finance. “In terms of political implications of what’s going on in the Hill, obviously it could affect... Read More

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