Tag Archives: Freddie Mac

Undoubtedly, broadening eligibility for the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) has allowed more borrowers to benefit from the program. However, HARP rules aren't the only obstacles stunting refinance volume. A report from the Federal Housing Finance Agency Office of Inspector General (FHFA OIG) found a lack of borrower education is also a critical barrier to the program. ""[M]any borrowers have not heard of the program, confuse the program with other government housing programs, or do not realize that they are eligible,"" the report stated.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are raising the fixed interest rate for non-HAMP (Home Affordable Modification Program) modifications. The new interest rate adjustments serve to reflect current market conditions and will be applied to standard and streamlined modifications. Starting September 1, 2013, interest rates for modifications will rise from 4 percent to 4.625 percent.

Although policymakers have been busy introducing legislation to diminish the role of the GSEs, analysts at Moody's Investors Service ""believe GSE reform will not take place for at least a few more years."" In June, Senators Bob Corker (R-Tennessee) and Mark Warner (D-Virginia) led efforts to introduce legislation to wind down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in five years. Then came PATH from the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee in July.

Linda B. Bammann will be resigning from Freddie Mac's board of directors at the end of July, the company announced.

The number of borrowers who refinanced through the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) fell 20 percent month-over-month in May, data from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) revealed. The GSEs refinanced 84,648 borrowers through HARP in May, down from 106,910 in April. Since HARP's 2009 inception, the program has refinanced over 2.6 million loans.

Mortgage rates backed down for the second consecutive week, according to reports from Freddie Mac and Bankrate.com. Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey put the 30-year fixed-rate average at 4.31 percent (0.8 point) for the week ending July 25, down from last week's 4.37 percent. A year ago at this time, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 3.49 percent. The 15-year FRM this week averaged 3.39 percent (0.8 point), down from 3.41 percent last week.

Freddie Mac is making progress toward its goal of attracting more private capital into the mortgage market. Recently, the GSE announced the offering of a single-family credit-risk sharing transaction. The $500 million offering of Structured Agency Credit Risk (STACR) securities, which was priced Tuesday, seeks to reduce taxpayer risk while introducing more private capital into the market.

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) needs to work on improving its REO disposition strategy so it can bring in higher returns when properties go to sale, according to a recent report from the GAO. In fact, when compared to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the congressional watchdog found FHA disposes its REOs at a much slower pace and sees smaller returns. After examining foreclosure timelines, the GAO revealed the FHA takes about 340 days to dispose of its REOs after foreclosure, which is more than 60 percent longer than the GSEs average of 200 days.

UBS announced Monday it has reached an agreement in principle with the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to settle claims related to soured residential mortgage-backed securities.

According to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey, the average 30-year fixed rate was 4.37 percent (0.7 point) for the week ending July 18, down from 4.51 percent last week. Last year at this time, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 3.53 percent. ""Fixed mortgage rates fell as Federal Reserve (Fed) Chairman Bernanke helped ease market concerns about the Fed reducing its bond purchases,"" said Freddie Mac chief economist Frank Nothaft, referencing remarks Bernanke made earlier in the month.