One executive familiar with the practice of signing bonuses noted that typically the money is paid out over 12 months, but if the LO does not repeat their past performance the bonus can terminate in a given quarter.
Interest shortfalls in the residential MBS space continued to drift higher across different collateral types, tranche types and vintages throughout 2013, according to Morningstar Credit Ratings. As of the December 2013 remittance cycle, nearly one out of five deals (19.1 percent) in our sample experienced a shortfall in at least one tranche, Morningstar said in a recent report. Interest shortfalls take place...
Although the city of Richmond, CA, is still toying with the idea of using eminent domain to seize underwater mortgages out of non-agency MBS trusts, it has yet to receive final approvals to do so. Moreover, even though speculation is mounting that its partner in the controversial tactic, Mortgage Resolution Partners, might be going away, the citys mayor said she hasnt given up. In an interview with Inside MBS & ABS this week, Mayor Gayle McLaughlin noted that Eighteen elected officials I have talked to have shown an interest in the concept. Those officials include representatives from San Pablo, CA, San Francisco, and smaller cities around Los Angeles. She also has spoken with officials in Irvington and Newark, NJ. Wall Street has lobbied...
Despite new public pronouncements by lawmakers and administration officials that housing finance reform remains a top priority, industry observers warn there is little chance of legislation clearing Congress, ensuring a status quo that leaves the uber-profitable Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in place and pumping money into the Treasury. Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee Chairman Tim Johnson, D-SD, and Ranking Member Mike Crapo, R-ID, broke a long public silence by reiterating their intention to push bipartisan housing finance reform in a statement on Wednesday.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during two different periods last year spent nearly $20 billion buying roughly 85,000 loans despite clear warnings or questions about the appraisals, according to a new audit from the Inspector General of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. As part of its report, the FHFA-OIG has made 14 recommendations to FHFA regarding the matter, calling on the regulator to ensure the GSEs make better use of appraisal information generated by a uniform collateral data portal the agency told the two to develop in 2010.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency, as part of its new servicing project, is once again reviewing minimum fees paid to servicers of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans, according to industry advisors briefed on the matter. Among other things, the servicing project is reviewing how large-scale packages of GSE receivables are sold and transferred. This was not entirely unexpected, given the massive sales of mortgage servicing rights the past 18 months. But mortgage bankers thought changing the minimum servicing fee of 25 basis points was a dead issue.
Morgan Stanley & Co. this week disclosed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it likely will pay $1.25 billion to settle charges that it sold faulty non-agency mortgage-backed securities to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the years leading up to the financial crisis. The settlement, however, is not final and theres one more stop to it, said one observer close to matter.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency last week issued regulations that clamp down on golden parachute severance payments to departing GSE executives. Published in the Jan. 28 Federal Register, the FHFAs final rule applies to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the Federal Home Loan Banks and the Office of Finance, as well as any entity-affiliated parties, including independent contractors such as attorneys, accountants and appraisers.
Government lawyers have run the numbers again and have now concluded that Bank of America should pay a lot more than the initially-sought $864 million penalty over mortgage fraud related to Countrywide Financials Hustle program. The Justice Department filed papers with Manhattan Federal Judge Jed Rakoff Wednesday requesting the Charlotte-based BofA be fined $2.1 billion for Countrywides fraudulent sale of toxic mortgages to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the years leading up to the financial crisis.