Tag Archives: Freddie Mac

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is suing 17 financial institutions in an attempt to recover losses incurred by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from mortgage bonds purchased between 2005 and 2007. Based on initial reports, FHFA is looking to recoup as much as $45 billion. At least one financial analyst believes the matter will end in a settlement significantly south of that amount. Others say a more long-lasting impact may come in the form of higher mortgage costs for consumers.

StreetLinks Lender Solutions says the company can ensure compliance with phase one of the Uniform Mortgage Data Program (UMDP) for appraisals ordered through both its full-service AMC solution, LenderPlus, and self-managed appraisal software platform, LenderX. All appraisals on loans destined for Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac are now required to comply with new Uniform Appraisal Dataset (UAD) requirements. StreetLinks requires that appraisers provide their assessments in the UAD-compliant format.

Mortgage rates, for the most part, headed lower this week. Data from Freddie Mac shows that the 30-year fixed rate remained unchanged over the past week, while all other loan products in the GSE's survey dropped. The 5-year adjustable-rate mortgage set a new all-time record low at 2.96 percent, having fallen for the eighth consecutive week. The 30-year rate held at 4.22 percent, while the 15-year rate slipped to 3.39 percent.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is the second regulatory body to file a petition with the New York federal court that is reviewing Bank of America's $8.5 billion settlement proposal to Countrywide mortgage investors. FHFA has filed a Notice of Appearance and Conditional Objection in order to obtain additional information related to the proposal, but the agency says it sees ""no basis"" to raise a substantive objection to the settlement at this time.

GCC Servicing Systems, a provider of mortgage servicing technology and solutions, has announced the availability of a new investor accounting and reporting component through the company's professional services suite. This new offering enables servicers to meet the accounting and reporting requirements of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), and the USDA's Rural and Community Development loan program. It also agency default reporting.

Radar Logic plans to publish a response to the government's proposal to sell pools of foreclosed homes to investors to rent. In its RPX Monthly Housing Market Report for August, the company expressed concerns that the plan could negatively affect home prices in the broader market. Radar Logic believes the REOs sold in bulk to investors will come at lower prices than if they were sold individually - prices much lower than non-distressed sales, and these low prices could lead to low appraisals for other homes on the market.

Short sales are being used more frequently by homeowners, lenders, and investors to avert a foreclosure, and industry data released this week shows that these pre-foreclosure transactions are being pushed through at a faster pace. Freddie Mac says its short sales have risen from about 4 percent of completed workouts in 2000 to nearly 14 percent in 2010. The GSE warns that with the increase in short sale transactions comes an increase in fraud. It's become the top priority for Freddie Mac's fraud investigation unit.

Word on the street is the administration is sizing up a new program that would provide millions of homeowners with new, lower interest, lower payment mortgages. The initiative would allow borrowers with loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to refinance at today's rates, even if they are in negative equity or have bad marks on their credit. Two Columbia business professors say such a move would save homeowners an average of $350 a month and pump an extra $118 billion into the economy.

In its August 2011 Budget and Economic Outlook update, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) predicts the government will spend $35 billion less on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2011 than in 2010. The CBO estimates it will spend $5 billion on the GSEs in 2011 after having spent $40 billion last year. The CBO says the decrease is mostly due to lower projections in losses for the GSEs in upcoming years. This updated 2011 estimate is $6 billion lower than the CBO's previous estimate.

Mortgage rates moved higher this week off the previous week's record lows as Treasury bond yields rose and other housing data showed improvement. One anomaly was the 5-year adjustable-rate mortgage, which declined one-tenths of a percentage point to set a new all-time low. The 30-year fixed rate rose to 4.22 percent, while the 15-year rate came in at 3.44 percent.