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Inside Mortgage Finance

March 13, 2014

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Nonbanks Continued Assault on MSR Market, But Total Mortgage Servicing Shrank in 4Q13

The mortgage servicing market posted its first gain in more than five years during the third quarter of 2013, but failed to get any traction as the supply of mortgage debt outstanding fell slightly over the last three months of the year. The unpaid balance of home mortgage debt peaked at an all-time high of $11.316 trillion in the first quarter of 2008 and then began a steady five-year decline through the third quarter of last year. But the Federal Reserve reported that the balance of home mortgage debt slid 0.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013. Don’t blame...[Includes two data charts] Read More

Steadfast Offers ‘Term Loan’ Program to Help Nonbanks Build MSRs, But Will It Catch Fire?

Steadfast Capital, in conjunction with its partner, Customers Bank, has launched a program that will offer long-term loans collateralized by mortgage servicing rights to nonbanks. The goal is to help these firms retain MSRs and possibly buy receivables in the secondary market. Until now, most commercial banks would only make one-year “working capital” loans to non-depository mortgage firms. Steadfast and Customers will extend credit with terms of up to six years. “A one-year loan is... Read More

Johnson, Crapo Announce Pending Senate Housing Finance Reform Bill as Legislative Time Window Closes

The Democrat and Republican heads of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee this week finally announced an agreement on comprehensive housing finance reform legislation but the release of a detailed bill for public consumption remains forthcoming. For now, it’s impossible to tell how the agreement reached by Committee Chairman Tim Johnson, D-SD, and Ranking Member Mike Crapo, R-ID, is any different than the bipartisan bill introduced early last year by Sens. Bob Corker, R-TN, and Mark Warner, D-VA. Johnson and Crapo are expected to release draft legislative language later this week, and move to a markup “in the coming weeks.” Like Corker-Warner, the Johnson-Crapo agreement includes... Read More

OMB Predicts Multi-Billion Dollar Fannie, Freddie Profit Transfer to Government Over Next 10 Years

Profits flowing from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are poised to be the multi-billion dollar gift that keeps on giving, and could return nearly $180 billion to the Treasury Department over the next decade, according to a White House analysis. The analysis, which is part of the Obama administration’s 2015 budget, assumes the two government-sponsored enterprises will remain in operation and continue to pay dividends to the government under the current “net worth sweep” arrangement. The cumulative budgetary impact of the senior preferred stock purchase agreements will generate... Read More

Labor Department Seeks Supreme Court Review of Loan Officer Overtime Ruling

The Department of Labor has asked the Supreme Court of the United States to review an appeals court ruling that put the kibosh on the agency’s policy that mortgage loan officers do not qualify under the administrative exemption to overtime pay. The legal question presented in Thomas E. Perez, Secretary of Labor, et al., petitioners, v. Mortgage Bankers Association, et al., is whether a federal agency must engage in notice-and-comment rulemaking before it can significantly alter an interpretation of an agency regulation. Last October, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia refused... Read More

Will Investors Pay Up for PHH Mortgage? Clean MSRs, But Its Achilles Heel Might Be Its Production Platform

Private-equity firms such as Orange Capital and EJF Capital have been gobbling up shares in PHH Corp. the past year, believing the stock is undervalued. Among other things, “smart money” investors have noticed that the liquidation value of its mortgage servicing rights almost equals the entire company’s market capitalization rate. But that doesn’t mean PHH Corp. will be successful in its attempt to unlock shareholder value by selling off parts of the company, including its mortgage banking franchise and automobile fleet business. “The only thing that’s certain about PHH is that it’s trading below book value,” said one mortgage executive who has conducted business with the firm. Late this week, PHH common was selling... Read More

Industry Support Strong for New MI Trade Association, MICA Did its Job But Fell Short in the End, Observers Say

The desire of the private mortgage industry to make a clean break from the past and repair its tarnished image caused the demise of the Mortgage Insurance Companies of America and fueled the creation of a new trade association that would strongly represent the industry’s interests in Washington, DC, and among the states. Conversations with various industry participants show significant support for the new trade association, U.S. Mortgage Insurers, which now represents six of the seven active firms in the industry. AIG affiliate United Guaranty has declined... Read More

Bank and Nonbank Servicers Ordered to Make Improvements to HAMP Performance

Whether a servicer was a bank or a nonbank doesn’t appear to have played much of a role in terms of performance in the non-agency portion of the Home Affordable Modification Program, according to the latest assessments by the Treasury Department. Six servicers were found to need “moderate” improvement: three banks and three nonbanks. HAMP incentive payments in the future could be withheld if the firms don’t improve their performance. The needs-to-improve list includes Bank of America, CitiMortgage, Nationstar Mortgage, Ocwen Loan Servicing, Select Portfolio Servicing and Wells Fargo. The other major HAMP servicer, JPMorgan Chase, was found to have largely satisfied HAMP performance requirements, based on assessments for the fourth quarter of 2013. Among the seven largest HAMP servicers, only nonbanks had... Read More

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