Fitch: Longer Liquidation Timelines Resulting In Wider RMBS Loss Severities
Longer liquidation timelines for bank-owned properties (REO) resulted in wider loss severities on residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) during the fourth quarter, Fitch Ratings...
Treasury Official: HARP Cut-Off Date Should Not Be Extended
The Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) should not be extended to allow borrowers with loans originated after the May 31, 2009, cut-off to...
Wells Fargo Selling 2% Of Its Servicing Rights To Ocwen
Wells Fargo is selling 184,000 loans with a total principal balance of $39 billion, or about 2% of its residential mortgage servicing portfolio,...
Moody’s: Economic Factors Ensure REO-To-Rental Market’s Success
Although the real estate owned (REO)-to-rental market has likely hit its peak, a lower homeownership rate, rising rents, increasing property values and rising...
Citigroup To Lay Off 950 Workers In Mortgage Servicing
After announcing last week that it was selling mortgage servicing rights (MSRs) for about 64,000 Fannie Mae residential first-mortgage loans with about $10.3...
Unpredictability, Meet Stability: How Outsourcing Counters Cyclicality
The housing industry is once again playing its traditional, and significant, role in the overall economic recovery. In 2013, it accounted for 15%...
Report: Traders May Be Front Running Fannie, Freddie In Swaps Market
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is reportedly investigating whether Wall Street traders are front running government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie...
MBA Revises Down Its Origination Volume Forecast
During its annual conference and expo held in Washington, D.C., this past October, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) issued a rather gloomy forecast...
Seven Florida Residents Indicted For Mortgage Fraud
Seven Florida residents have been indicted on charges of bank fraud and wire fraud for their alleged involvement in a 'complex' mortgage fraud...
Watt Postpones G-Fee Hikes
As promised, Mel Watt, the new director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), conservator of government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and...
Credit Unions Anticipate Slow Mortgage Growth In 2014
Credit unions are pessimistic about mortgage loan growth in 2014, according to the National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU). The Arlington, Va.-based...
Watt Sworn In As Director Of FHFA
Millions of Americans may get principle forbearance on their underwater mortgages, now that Rep. Mel Watt, D-N.C., has been officially sworn in as...
Wells Fargo To Pay $591M To Fannie Mae; Legacy Repurchase Reviews Closed
Wells Fargo will pay $591 million to government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) Fannie Mae to resolve repurchase requests on certain loans originated prior to 2009....
Flagstar To Pay $8.9 Million To Freddie Mac
Flagstar Bancorp Inc., the holding company for Flagstar Bank, will pay government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) Freddie Mac $8.9 million to settle claims that it...
Watt Says He’ll Postpone G-Fee Hikes
Rep. Mel Watt, D-N.C., the incoming director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), announced on Friday that he intends to delay the...
2013 To Bring Largest Gain In Home Values Since 2005
Homes nationwide are expected to gain almost $1.9 trillion in cumulative value in 2013 - the second consecutive annual gain and the largest...
Fed To Start Tapering Bond Buying In January
Having decided that economic conditions have improved enough, the Federal Reserve on Wednesday announced that it will start scaling back its $85-billion-a-month bond-buying...
Census Bureau: Housing Starts Jumped 22.7% In November
Housing starts jumped a dramatic 22.7% in November, compared to October, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Department of Housing and...
Although Still Facing A $1.3B Shortfall, FHA’s Financial Condition Improving
Despite having received a $1.7 billion infusion of capital from the U.S. Treasury on Sept. 30 - and despite having made considerable progress...
FHFA Announces G-Fee Hikes For 2014
As was expected, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is increasing the guarantee-fees (g-fees) that will be charged by government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie...