A battle is brewing over whether Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should allow lenders to use alternatives to the ubiquitous FICO credit score. Some industry participants argue that the current credit scoring system works well. Others complain that the Federal Housing Finance Agency and the GSEs should be doing more to encourage alternatives to a system some deem outdated. The FHFA has been evaluating alternative credit scoring models over the past year and charged the GSEs with closely examining potential changes in how they use credit scores. Right now Fannie and Freddie rely exclusively on the Classic FICO score.
Both GSEs have now paid the government the 10 percent compound rate of return required by the original senior preferred stock agreement, according to the R Street Institute. The think tank’s senior fellow, Alex Pollock, said it’s time to put the senior preferred stock purchase agreement to rest. Fannie just recently joined Freddie in this “10 percent moment.” He said because Treasury has received dividend payments from both Fannie and Freddie that equal the economic equivalent of repayment of the entire principal of their senior preferred stock, plus a full 10 percent yield, “it is now entirely reasonable for it to consider declaring the senior preferred stock retired.”
Fannie Mae is making moves as it prepares to relocate its iconic Wisconsin Avenue headquarters to a new building in downtown Washington by consolidating its three properties in Northern Virginia into one central hub. The GSE is looking to sell three office buildings in Reston and Herndon, VA, where it leases about 1.5 million square feet of space. Fannie recently signed on to be the anchor tenant at Reston Gateway, occupying 850,000 square feet. The building is currently under construction and Fannie is set to move into the mixed-use property in 2022. With about three years left before the move into the new Reston office, observers said the GSE could execute a sale-leaseback...
New Disclosures Show GSEs Keep Adding Workers. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac started the new year with more workers on their payrolls than the year prior, according to an analysis of 10-K reports filed by the two government-sponsored enterprises. At Jan. 31, 2017, Fannie reported a staff of 7,200 workers compared to 7,000 in February of last year. However, two years ago its head count was higher at 7,300. Of the new reading, Fannie noted the total includes full- and part-timers and employees on leave. Freddie had a staff of 6,144 full-timers...
As the Federal Housing Finance Agency continues to evaluate alternative credit scoring mechanisms, some experts argue that the agency isn’t doing enough to promote an updated scoring system while others say the current system works just fine.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s auditor concluded that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac low-downpayment programs had a high compliance rate but fell somewhat short when it came to ensuring the homeowner education component was met.
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