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Inside MBS & ABS

May 2, 2014

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GSEs Raise Concerns About How TBA Market Could Function Under System Envisioned by Johnson-Crapo

There’s a growing concern among participants in the secondary market that legislation in the Senate to reform the government-sponsored enterprises won’t be able to allow the to-be-announced market to function. The latest anxieties were raised by officials at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, whose securities flourish in the TBA market. Legislation in the Senate from Sens. Tim Johnson, D-SD, and Mike Crapo, R-ID, calls for the preservation of the TBA market but doesn’t provide any roadmap for how the proposed Federal Mortgage Insurance Corp. should accomplish that feat. “Unless the FMIC sets... Read More

Johnson-Crapo Legislation Likely to Increase Fannie, Freddie Guaranty Fees, According to GSE Analysis

The housing finance reform legislation authored by Sens. Tim Johnson, D-SD, and Mike Crapo, R-ID, will result in higher guaranty fees and less cross-subsidization than the current Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac fee structure, according to the government-sponsored enterprises. The Johnson-Crapo bill, which was abruptly pulled from a scheduled markup before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee this week, would establish a new type of MBS with an explicit government backstop that requires private capital to absorb the first 10 percent of losses. “There is... Read More

As Loan Volumes Decline, Ginnie Mae Participants May Have Other Concerns on Their Hands as Well

Ginnie Mae issuer applications are beginning to slow thanks to declining FHA and VA production, but lenders that play in the space are beginning to wonder whether they should be paying closer attention to the “compare ratios” that measure delinquencies. According to industry advisors, there are new concerns that the Inspector General of the Department of Housing and Urban Development may be expanding its investigation of firms that have significant claims rates on FHA loans. Four years ago, the HUD IG made a big splash when it issued subpoenas to 15 mortgage lenders with unusually high claim rates. Since that announcement, little information on settlements with the 15 has come... Read More

Capital Markets Option Seen as Vital For Reformed Housing Finance System

Concerns about the functionality of the to-be-announced market and potential incentives for riskier lending have prompted some to suggest that legislation under consideration in the Senate to reform the government-sponsored enterprises should remove the capital markets option for risk sharing and rely solely on a guarantor model. A number of agency MBS participants aren’t too pleased with the suggestions and have countered that a capital markets option is necessary in the country’s housing finance system. Under the capital markets option envisioned in the GSE reform bill from Sens. Tim Johnson, D-SD, and Mike Crapo, R-ID, investors would hold... Read More

HARP Activity Slowed to a Trickle in Early 2014, Fast-Growing Servicers Propped Up Volume

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac securitized just $11.1 billion of refinance mortgages with high loan-to-value ratios during the first quarter of 2014, a sign that the Home Affordable Refinance Program is slowing down significantly. The first-quarter high-LTV refi market was down 37.1 percent from the fourth quarter of 2013 and off a hefty 78.5 percent from the $51.4 billion of business the two government-sponsored enterprises did back in the first three months of last year, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis. Production was...[Includes one data chart] Read More

Credit Card ABS Holding Up Well as Charge-Offs Reach New Low in First Quarter, Fitch Ratings Finds

Charge-offs in the credit-card ABS sector reached a new low in the first quarter of 2014, due mostly to a steady decline in delinquencies and lower bankruptcy rates, according to Fitch Ratings. Loss rates continued to break new records heading into 1Q14, falling to 2.89 percent during the latest March distribution period, even as average charge-offs dropped to a record 3.00 percent for 1Q14 from 3.04 percent in 4Q13. “This marks 15 consecutive quarters of improvement and is approximately 25 percent lower year-over-year,” said Fitch Ratings Credit Card ABS Group Managing Director Michael Dean and Director Herman Poon in a new report. Late payments also fell... Read More

DOJ in New Settlement Talks with BofA, Citigroup; FHFA Announces Settlements with Barclays, First Horizon

Several big banks are in various phases of negotiation with the federal government to resolve alleged violations of federal and state securities laws in connection with legacy non-agency MBS. Bank of America is in new settlement talks with the Department of Justice over residential MBS backed mostly by faulty loans stemming from BofA’s acquisition of Countrywide Financial Corp. and Merrill Lynch & Co., which securitized the loans and sold the bonds to investors. The tentative talks could cost... Read More

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