Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are required by law to reduce their capital buffer to zero by January 1, 2018. If their losses exceed their capital buffer, they would require another draw from Treasury.
Read More »Watt Discusses FHFA’s Progress Toward Goals in Speech
Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Mel Watt discussed the progress toward the Agency's three main goals – maintaining, reducing, and building – in a speech he delivered Thursday at the Goldman Sachs Housing Finance Conference in New York.
Read More »FHFA Director Says He Is Powerless to Alter GSE Bailout Agreement
As stakeholders continue to battle with the government over what they say should be their share of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's profits, the regulator in charge of overseeing the two GSEs says he's not in a position to act on that situation. Watt says he has no plans to change is the GSEs' current bailout agreement with the government, which has allowed the Treasury Department to sweep nearly all of their profits since August 2012.
Read More »Lawmaker Introduces Bill To Prohibit GSEs from Funding Housing Groups
U.S. Representative Ed Royce (R-California), a senior member of the House Financial Services Committee and a member of the Capital Markets and GSE Subcommittee and the Housing and Insurance Subcommittee, has introduced the Pay Back the Taxpayers Act of 2015, according to an announcement on Royce's website.
Read More »Watt Insists 3 Percent Down Payment Loans Are Not Riskier Than Those With Lower LTVs
Federal Housing Finance Director (FHFA) Director Mel Watt, testifying before the House Financial Services Committee, which he once sat on as a Democratic U.S. Representative for North Carolina, insisted that mortgage loans with a 3 percent down payment backed by GSEs are no more riskier than those with a loan-to-value (LTV) ratio of lower than 80 percent.
Read More »Watt Scheduled to Testify Before House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday
Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Mel Watt is scheduled to testify before the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday in a hearing entitled "Sustainable Housing Finance: An Update from the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency." In his testimony, Watt is expected to defend last month's decision to lift the suspension of the allocation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac funds into the Housing Trust Fund and the Capital Magnet Fund. The suspension was enacted in November 2008, two months after the government seized control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Read More »FHFA Director Outlines GSEs’ Strategic Objectives Before Senate Banking Committee
In his first time to testify before Congress since he became director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) in January, Mel Watt on Wednesday outlined three main objectives that make up the 2014 Conservatorship for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and discussed the agency's progress toward each in the last 10 months.
Read More »FHFA Director Watt Wants to Expand Credit Availability, Manage Risk to GSEs
The Federal Housing Finance Administration (FHFA) is working to expand availability for mortgage credit in an attempt to give the housing market a lift, and is also working on ways to mitigate risk to GSEs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, FHFA director Mel Watt said in a speech delivered on Monday.
Read More »FHFA Extends Comment Period for Proposed FHLB Rule Until January 12
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced on Monday a 60-day extension for the commenting period for proposed rule to revise membership requirements for Federal Home Loan Banks back in September.
Read More »Audit of Common Securitization Platform Finds Organizational Problems
The Federal Housing Finance Agency Office of the Inspector General (FHFAOIG) released its latest update on the status of the development of the Common Securitization Platform (CSP). In a recent speech, FHFA director Mel Watt said the continued development of the Common Securitization Platform is one of the most important goals for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac going forward.
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