Freddie Mac released its Monthly Volume Summary for January, 2014, noting their total mortgage portfolio decreased at an annualized rate of 1.9 percent in January. Despite a slight uptick in December, 2013, Freddie Mac’s ending balance has been declining since June, 2013.
Read More »New Regulations for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
Per new regulations finalized last week, the GSEs will be required to file suspicious activity reports (SARs) directly with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) rather than through their own regulator. Developed in coordination with the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), FinCEN’s final rule is intended to provide law enforcement and regulators with a more complete picture of mortgage fraud.
Read More »Freddie Mac to Incentivize Homes in Cold Weather States
HomeSteps, the real estate sales division of Freddie Mac, announced Tuesday it is offering cash incentives to real estate agents who list or sell HomeSteps homes in 23 states. The incentive is available between February 18, and April 15, 2014.
Read More »New Report Critical of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Fee Collection
A report released Wednesday by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) was critical of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s collection of late fees. The report criticized the two for poor management of late fee collection, noting large sums of money either not being consistently collected or collected at all.
Read More »FHFA Report Finds Lack of Compliance; Oversight
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released a report Wednesday, outlining conclusions drawn from a study done on the Servicing Alignment Initiative (SAI). The assessment of servicers provided by the FHFAOIG was far from glowing, citing specific areas of improvement for servicers of Government-Sponsored Enterprise (GSE) mortgages, specifically those who service Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Read More »Freddie Mac Announces Third Risk-Sharing Deal
Freddie Mac announced the pricing of its first Structured Agency Credit Risk (STACR) transaction of the year: a $1 billion offering of debt notes whose buyers will share in the risk. According to the company, the offering "represents one of the largest subordinate mortgage credit securitizations ever brought to market."
Read More »Report: GSEs Purchased Risky Loans Despite Red Flags
About four years after the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) directed the GSEs to develop a uniform collateral data portal, the Office of the Inspector General of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA OIG) finds the portal is not being used to its potential, and the GSEs continue to purchase loans with red flags.
Read More »Interest Rate Declines Continue into February
In its weekly published Primary Mortgage Market Survey, Freddie Mac put the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate at 4.23 percent (0.7 point) for the week ending February 6, down from 4.32 percent previously. Meanwhile, Bankrate reported a drop of 7 basis points in the 30-year fixed average to 4.43 percent, with the 15-year fixed falling 6 points to 3.50 percent.
Read More »The Fate of Fannie and Freddie and the Importance of GSE Reform
Almost everyone agrees that something needs to be done with the GSEs, and almost everyone recognizes that the “something” will be a complex undertaking, but we must be up to this task, we must be thoughtful about reform, avoid unintended consequences, and strike a middle ground between growing a private mortgage market and providing a government backstop.
Read More »Morgan Stanley Announces $1.25B Settlement with FHFA
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Tuesday, Morgan Stanley revealed it has reached a $1.25 billion agreement in principle with FHFA to resolve pending mortgage-backed securities (MBS)-related litigation. In connection with the settlement, the company announced it is recording a $150 million addition to its fourth-quarter legal reserves.
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