Tag Archives: Mortgage-Backed Securities

New York-based credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's Ratings Services and its parent company, McGraw Hill Financial, have entered into settlements with the U.S. Department of Justice and Attorneys General of 19 states and the District of Columbia over claims that S&P misrepresented residential mortgage-backed securities and collaterized debt obligations to investors, according to a release from McGraw Hill on Tuesday morning. As part of the settlement, which is not subject to court approval, McGraw Hill agreed to pay $687.5 million to the Department of Justice and a combined $687.5 million to the states and the District of Columbia.

Fannie Mae's gross mortgage portfolio continued its downward trend in December, falling at a compound annualized rate of 26.4 percent, according to Fannie Mae's December 2014 Monthly Summary released recently.

Settlements with the federal government for mortgage servicing misconduct led to sharp year-over-year declines for Citigroup and Bank of America in both fourth quarter and full-year net incomes in 2014, according to Q4 2014 and year-end earnings statements for both banks released on Thursday.

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) may have to pay additional penalties to settle claims that it sold faulty U.S. mortgage-backed securities in the years leading up to the housing market crash, according to a report from Reuters.

After slipping in October, purchase and issuance activity picked up again, coming to $29.5 billion, Freddie Mac reported. That was offset by an increase in sales and liquidations, which whittled the portfolio's monthly increase to about $614 million. In other monthly changes, the unpaid principal balance (UPB) of Freddie Mac's mortgage-related investments portfolio fell by approximately $4.7 billion last month, a negative annualized growth rate of 14.0 percent.

Former Countrywide executive Edward O'Donnell will receive $57 million for his role in filing a whistle-blower lawsuit against Bank of America over the sale of faulty mortgage-backed securities, according to a report from Bloomberg News.

Republican lawmakers are requesting more information from the U.S. Department of Justice on settlements in the past year with Bank of America and Citigroup over the sales and packaging of mortgage-backed securities, according to a press release from the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee.

Fannie Mae's gross mortgage portfolio declined for the 51st time in the last 52 months in October, according to the mortgage giant's October 2014 Monthly Summary released recently.

October marked the second straight month of growth for the portfolio, which has contracted for seven of 2014's first 10 months. Year-to-date, the portfolio has shrunk at an average annualized rate of 0.8 percent.

Two of the country's biggest banks have agreed to pay tens of millions of dollars to settle a suit claiming they failed to protect investors of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) in the wake of the subprime crash.