Tag Archives: Freddie Mac

According to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, PHH Mortgage Corporation has closed the sale of nearly its entire Freddie Mac portfolio of mortgage servicing rights (MSR) to New Residential Mortgage, LLC—about 81,500 loans. New Residential picked up the portfolio for approximately $110 million. Of that sum, $101.5 million was attributable to the purchase rights for the Freddie Mac MSR portfolio and $8.5 million was for related servicing advances.

In a recent interview, a prominent hedge fund manager said the legal battle with the U.S. government regarding Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s profits could last another five years. In 2012, investors sued Fannie and Freddie for agreeing to allocate the profit in a different way than what they thought they agreed to when investing in the GSEs, but recently it’s seemed the government is siding more with the Treasury and Federal Housing and Finance Agency than investors. If the Trump administration doesn’t stop the profit sweep, the fund manager said the Supreme Court could be the next step.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency released recently its exhaustive annual 2016 Report to Congress, where it highlights actions it has taken over the year to support and maintain the nation’s housing industry. The 120 page report covers, amongst others: a report of the annual examination of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (The Enterprises), reports of annual examinations of the Federal Home Loan Banks, the results of stress tests under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Consumer Protection Act. You can find some of the report’s highlights here.

Freddie Mac, in conjunction with J.P. Morgan and BNP Paribas as co-lead managers and bookrunners, recently announced the price of its fourth Structured Agency Credit Risk (STACR) debt note offering at $787.5 million. Mortgages in the reference pool have an unpaid principle balance of $31.6 billion. STACR is an ongoing effort to transfer a portion of its mortgage credit risk to private investors.

Good news for buyers: it’s a great time to get a mortgage. Today’s 30-year fixed rate mortgage is 2 percentage points lower than the average over the last 25 years. According to a weekly national survey, 30-year fixed mortgages rates remain at the lowest level in seven months.

The Federal Open Market Committee and the Federal Reserve Board of Governors Board of Governors are set to meet Tuesday, June 13 and Wednesday, June 14, in Washington D.C.. It will be their fourth meeting of 2017. Janet Yellen, Chair of the Board of Governors, is scheduled to give press conference at 2:30 p.m. eastern time on Wednesday.

For four months, the Department of the Treasury, GSEs, and Federal Housing Finance Agency have been in disagreement with Fannie and Freddie investors on where profits should be directed. Though the D.C. Circuit affirmed a lower court’s ruling that actions taken under the FHFA’s conservatorship of the GSEs cannot be challenged in court, the shareholders are now taking matters to the full D.C. Circuit for a rehearing. The FHFA and Treasury are now urging the D.C. Circuit not to modify its original ruling.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency on Thursday released its third Enterprise Non-Performing Loan Sales Report, which lists all the sales of all non-performing loans from Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to the private sector through December 31, 2016. The report tracks total loan sales, total number delinquent assents unloaded, and time of delinquency. It also strives to track borrower outcomes and measure how many properties were foreclosed on, how many avoided foreclosure, and the difference between homes that were sold to third parties and benchmark NPLs.

Semper Capital, a independent investment management firm, believes that the Credit Risk Transfer market continues to be a compelling investment vehicle. Following the mortgage crisis, the Federal Housing Finance Agency has mandated a number of changes affecting the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs), reducing the risk of losses that the GSEs may pose to taxpayers. Semper believes that the CRT market remains well supported and the collateral and structural benefits are high.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) issued a Request for Input (RFI) Thursday for problems qualified Limited English Proficiency (LEP) borrowers face during the mortgage lifecycle. Per FHFA’s 2017 Scorecard for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Common Securitization Solutions, the GSEs must identify major challenges for LEP borrowers in accessing mortgage credit, analyzing potential solutions, and developing a multiyear plan appropriate for the Enterprises to support improved access. By better understanding the experience of LEP borrowers and those that serve them, the FHFA can successfully expand their statutory mandate.