Tag Archives: Fannie Mae

In a quarterly filing released Wednesday, SunTrust Banks, Inc. announced that it was cooperating with a government probe into fees and expenses charged by law firms for services related to foreclosing upon delinquent loans guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Freddie Mac has agreed to sell more than a half-billion dollars in what it calls “deeply delinquent” loans from its investment portfolio to an as-yet unnamed buyer.

Fannie Mae's book of business decreased at a compound annualized rate of 1.7 percent over the month of June, slower than the previous month's rate of 2.4 percent but continuing a streak of decreases that has persisted all year so far. Year-to-date, Fannie Mae's book of business has declined at a compound annualized rate of 2.2 percent.

Despite an anticipated pickup in economic growth and housing recovery in the second half of this year,Fannie Mae expects the economy to grow at just 1.5 percent overall this year.

Credit standards at large lenders appear to be loosening somewhat, while criteria at small and mid-sized lenders appear to be tightening, according to a new survey from Fannie Mae. Fannie Mae surveyed executives at its lending customers during the first two quarters of this year for its first ever Mortgage Lender Sentiment Survey.

According to a report issued Thursday by the Federal Housing Finance Agency Office of the Inspector General, Fannie and Freddie are increasingly making riskier deals by buying more mortgages from smaller and non-bank lenders.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) put out the call on Thursday for public comment regarding the draft of requirements that would apply to private mortgage insurance companies that insure mortgage loans owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The latest in a series of proposed GSE reforms was announced on Thursday. Congressional Representatives John K. Delaney (D-Maryland), John Carney (D-Delaware), and Jim Himes (D-Connecticut) introduced housing finance reform legislation, aimed at winding down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and replacing them with a federally backed insurance program administered through Ginnie Mae.

Consumers believe that their outlook is getting better. But they are not necessarily ready to participate in the housing market just yet. The June Housing Survey released by Fannie Mae shows that consumer sentiment toward the housing market is continuing to improve as the overall economic outlook improves but it still sits well below the level necessary for the market to normalize.

Citing people familiar with the matter, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that Nationstar, a large mortgage processor with millions of mortgages in its portfolio, was temporarily suspended from buying the rights to home loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac because of concerns that the servicer was under capitalized.