Government

The U.S. Treasury Department says the government's bailout of the nation's banking system is ""nearing profitability."" Total repayments and other income from Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) initiatives that provided direct financial support to banks now comes to $243 billion, very near surpassing total disbursements under those programs of $245 billion. Treasury says the lifetime cost of TARP is primarily concentrated within funds disbursed for foreclosure prevention programs.

As the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act reached its half-year mark, an analysis of the landmark legislation by Ernst & Young reveals that early mobilization will become more critical as rule-making activity moves toward the one-year anniversary - when many final rules are put in place. The firm's study indicates that financial firms are at different stages in their responses to Dodd-Frank. Many of the largest are conducting impact assessments and creating roadmaps and governance structures to guide compliance efforts.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has sided with consumer advocacy groups that say private transfer fee covenants, also referred to as Wall Street home resale fees, place a hidden financial burden on homebuyers and home sellers. FHFA sent a proposed rule to the Federal Register this week, which would limit Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Banks from dealing in mortgages on properties the federal agency describes as ""encumbered"" by certain types of private transfer fee covenants.

This week, mortgage rates showed mixed results, according to a study released by Freddie Mac, which is compiled using data gathered from around 125 lenders across the country. Mortgage rate data released this same week from Bankrate, shows more steady rates, using data from the top 10 banks and thrifts in the top 10 U.S. markets.

Last year the Florida State Courts Administration asked its legislators for $9.6 million to try to clear its massive backlog of foreclosures. Since the courts received the money and began working through the backlog in July 2010, the state has cleared more than 110,000 foreclosures from its system. That, however, leaves more than 350,000 foreclosures to work through.

The Federal Reserve said this week that it ""does not expect"" to finalize three pending rule changes under TILA that would have mandated new consumer disclosure requirements for mortgage loans. The Fed began crafting the new regulations more than a year ago in response to claims that borrowers did not understand the terms of the loans they were signing. However, rulemaking authority for TILA and jurisdiction over consumer disclosures is scheduled to transfer to the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau within a few months.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse is pushing legislation that would allow bankruptcy court judges to order foreclosure mediation between homeowners and lenders. His proposal is modeled after a program in his home state of Rhode Island. He says it would not give judges the power to slash mortgage debt like the many bankruptcy cramdown measures that have fallen short, but instead would force lenders to open up the lines of communication to find a solution that is in the best interest of both homeowners and investors.

Last week, the special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, released a report to Congress saying servicers are not doing all they can to help facilitate the process of keeping borrowers in their homes. To date there have been 1,025,907 homeowners rejected for HAMP modifications by the eight largest servicers, and there have been 572,655 canceled trial modifications, which typically occurs because of insufficient documentation, program ineligibility, or because the borrower missed payments.

The agency charged with overseeing the nation's two largest mortgage companies is downsizing its own real estate. The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) said Monday that it is consolidating its three Washington, D.C. office locations into one. FHFA currently has employees in offices on G Street; Pennsylvania Ave.; and Eye St., Northwest, but plans to move all staff to a new central location at the Constitution Center at 400 Seventh St., Southwest, beginning November 2011.

Fannie Mae announced Tuesday it has launched a multifamily mortgage-backed securities system called Fannie Mae Guaranteed Multifamily Structures, or Fannie Mae GeMS, that will include Delegated Underwriting and Servicing (DUS) Megas, DUS REMICs, and syndicated DUS Megas.