Secondary Market

California Attorney General Kamala Harris is asking the court to force Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to turn over information about their servicing, foreclosure, property leasing, and mortgage securitization activities in the state. Harris issued subpoenas to each of the GSEs last month, outlining 51 questions the attorney general wanted answered. Fannie and Freddie's regulator, however, has reportedly instructed the companies not to respond to the state's request.

At the height of the financial crisis in 2008, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac held $2 trillion in high-risk subprime loans, amounting to 42 percent of their single-family portfolios, according to Edward Pinto of the American Enterprise Institute. Pinto, who served as chief credit officer for Fannie Mae until the late 1980s, arrived at this number by relying on data from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which filed a lawsuit against six former GSE executives for fraud.

JPMorgan Chase may soon be hit with a barrage of mortgage repurchase demands from investors, largely stemming from the lender's acquisitions of Washington Mutual and Bear Stearns. The Texas-based law firm of Gibbs & Bruns LLP says its investor clients have instructed the trustees of $95 billion in residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) issued by JPMorgan to open investigations in order to determine if the mortgage bonds are secured by ineligible loans.

November marked the fourth straight month that Fitch Ratings has recorded a decline in the delinquency rate for loans held in U.S. commercial-backed mortgage securities (CMBS). CMBS late-pays fell by 15 basis points to 8.41 percent, as new delinquencies totaling $1.8 billion were offset by $2.2 billion of resolutions. Behind the positive numbers, though, Fitch says the performance of CMBS collateralized by office properties remain an area of concern, with more than half of all new delinquencies stemming from office loans.

Six former executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are now facing securities fraud charges for making misleading statements about the companies' holdings of subprime loans between March 2007 and August 2008. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleges they fed the markets false information about the amount of risk on each company's books. Both GSEs entered into non-prosecution agreements with the SEC and have agreed to cooperate in the litigation against their former executives.

Fannie Mae has released the third-quarter results of its Servicer Total Achievement Rewards (STAR) Program, which grades servicers on foreclosure prevention performance. The GSE says three companies - JPMorgan Chase, PHH Mortgage, and U.S. Bank - demonstrated improvements in scorecard metrics measuring the volume of foreclosure alternatives provided to borrowers. All three raised their scores to a 3-STAR rating, which means they are at or above the median performance level.

Freddie Mac has notified servicers that they are required to take part in mortgage assistance programs offered by state Housing Finance Agencies (HFAs) in connection with the federal government's Hardest Hit Fund initiative. The GSE says collaboration with state HFAs will provide additional support for servicers' efforts and ""our mutual commitment"" to help at-risk borrowers avoid foreclosure. HFA programs provide funds to servicers which may be applied to such criteria as loan-to-value ratios in order to help borrowers qualify for a modification.

Those keeping tabs on the Federal Reserve's movements were looking for a change in the central bank's communication strategy when officials emerged from their final policy meeting of the year on Tuesday. Some analysts were even anticipating the Fed to launch a third round of 'Quantitative Easing' measures. All expectations went unfulfilled. With Wall Street disappointed in the lack of action, mortgage rates dipped to new lows following the Fed's (non) announcement.

State attorneys general and the nation's five largest mortgage servicers have been supposedly close to a settlement for quite some time. The latest estimate is that they are likely to reach an agreement before Christmas. A local Iowa media outlet attributes this information to Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, head of the states' negotiating committee. Miller says the settlement would release the banks from legal claims on past servicing and foreclosure practices but would not provide any release on securitizations.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) filed a lawsuit in federal court Monday against the city of Chicago contesting a local ordinance that makes lenders liable for the upkeep of vacant homes before they take possession of the title. FHFA says the law encroaches upon its role as the sole supervisor of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and could raise costs for homeowners in the city. Both GSEs have instructed servicers to keep a record of all registration, inspection, and maintenance expenses incurred to comply with the Chicago ordinance.