Tag Archives: FHFA

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac combined to complete 65,960 foreclosure prevention actions in Q1 this year, bringing the total of such actions up to almost 3. 5 million between the two GSEs since September 2008 when the conservatorships began, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA)'s Q1 2015 Foreclosure Prevention Report released on Tuesday.

Fannie Mae reported positive net worth of $3.7 billion as of the end of 2014, slightly more than half of which ($1.9 billion) represented a dividend obligation to the Department of Treasury that was paid on March 31, 2015. Fannie Mae's net income for 2014 of $14.2 billion was only a fraction of the $84 billion the GSE reported for 2013, according to FHFA.

Also in 2014, FHFA and the GSEs reviewed and made enhancements to requirements for foreclosure alternatives, forbearance plans, and rate-reset notifications. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced in July the expansion of home retention solutions for Standard and Streamlined modifications, enabling eligible borrowers with mark-to-market LTV ratios below 80 percent to obtain a loan modification.

U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner (D-Virginia), Bob Corker (R-Tennessee), Heidi Heitkamp (D-North Dakota), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Jon Tester (D-Montana), and Dean Heller (R-Nevada) sent a letter to the FHFA Director Mel Watt, requesting for clarity in risk sharing transactions to help drive competition in the secondary mortgage market.

The FHFA stated in its first quarter refinance report that more than 31,000 borrowers nationwide refinanced through HARP in Q1, bringing the total number of borrowers who have refinanced through HARP up to more than 3.3 million since it was introduced in 2009 as part of the Making Home Affordable program.

For the government-sponsored enterprise guaranty rating, Fitch notes that the GSEs as a whole are the primary drivers of this rating’s unconditional guarantee of full and timely payment on the MBS that secures the bonds. Additionally, the performance of the underlying loans or MBS servicer is not factored into the rating on the bonds.

Holtz-Eakin, former director of the Congressional Budget Office, wrote on the American Action Forum's blog, "The Daily Dish," earlier this week that logic would dictate large reforms to the housing finance system following the crash, yet no such large reform has taken place.

In its annual report released earlier this week, the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) recommended that the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) continue to encourage Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to spread mortgage credit risk across the private market.

The new requirements are expected to allow the GSEs to operate smoothly by providing greater transparency, clarity and consistency to industry participants and other stakeholders, and reflect feedback received over the past several months.

Currently their line of credit with Treasury would provide about 5 percent capitalization and the current guarantee fee of 63 basis points would provide about 3 percent; they would need to increase their G-fees by about 27 basis points to raise the additional 2 percent capital.