There was a sense of urgency in FHFA Director Mel Watt’s comments to Congress this week about reforming Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. As the year winds down and the GSEs’ capital buffer becomes non-existent in January 2018, the FHFA head voiced his frustration about the lack of action from Congress on addressing the nine-year conservatorship. “These conservatorships have been unprecedented in scope, complexity and duration, especially when you consider that the enterprises support over $5 trillion in mortgage loan guarantees,” he said testifying before the House Financial Services Committee. House lawmakers fired off questions to Watt on everything from flood insurance to the qualified-mortgage rule and credit-risk transfers during this week’s hearing.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency Office of Inspector General said late last week that the FHFA is not doing a good job of monitoring the escalating costs associated with Fannie Mae’s new headquarters being constructed in downtown Washington, DC. This is the second time the agency watchdog has blasted the FHFA for not properly overseeing the build-out of the leased office space comprised of two office towers connected by multiple glass bridges. In a new audit, the IG questioned upgrades on the Class A office building that cost more than the typical $175 per rentable square foot.
Fannie Mae has partnered with the state housing finance agency in New Hampshire to pilot a program that allows buyers of manufactured homes access to 30-year conventional fixed-rate mortgages. The program kicked off last week and buyers must purchase in qualified resident-owned communities (ROC). The Home Preferred Manufactured Housing ROC loan, created in conjunction with the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund, gives both buyers and current ROC homeowners affordable financing and low-cost mortgage insurance options. New Hampshire was the perfect place to pilot the program because of the way it treats MH in ROCs, Patrick McCarthy, Fannie’s vice president of alternative real estate-owned dispositions told Inside The GSEs. “It treats them as real property whereas in....
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shareholders are feeling more confident they will prevail in lawsuits over the Treasury sweep as internal government documents related to a popular case continue to trickle out. Late this week, Federal Claims Court Judge Margaret Sweeney granted a motion to compel the disclosure of documents that were filed over the summer by attorneys in Fairholme Funds v. the United States. Investors, having grown weary of the drawn-out discovery process, filed a motion in August in hopes of speeding things up by forcing the government to stop what they perceive as delay tactics. Attorneys asked the Federal Claims Court to use the “quick peek” procedure for some documents dating back to May 2012.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are accepting loans from borrowers who crowdfund their downpayments in a pilot program launched by CMG Financial this month. Geared especially toward millennials, HomeFundMe allows borrowers who take out a loan with the California-based company, to gather individual monetary gifts through their social media and email accounts. The platform is similar to the popular GoFundmMe donation-raising site. But, these funds are used specifically for a downpayment on a home. HomeFundMe can also be linked to things like graduation or wedding registries. HomeFundMe is also the first crowdfunding service that Fannie and Freddie have approved.
On the heels of the Equifax data breach fiasco, the Federal Housing Finance Agency was deemed ineffective when it comes to supervising the GSEs on cybersecurity risks, according to a recent report from the agency’s Office of Inspector General. In a previous report, the OIG asked the FHFA to examine policies about how Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac manage their cyber risks and address vulnerabilities. It noted that the GSEs store, process and transmit significant amounts…
The Federal Housing Finance Agency published two reports last week, including a 2018 annual performance plan for overseeing the GSEs and the FHLBanks in 2018, which includes talk of the common securitization platform.The performance plan supports the FHFA’s long-range strategic plan, also released last week, and includes goals, performance measures and targets, and strategies to accomplish those goals. The regulator is charged with three goals that center on safety and soundness of the regulated entities, along with ensuring liquidity and access in housing finance and managing the conservatorships. The goals and strategies haven’t changed much from the performance plan this year, other than the goal for the single security.
Freddie Simplifies Creation of Giant PCs. Late this week, Freddie Mac announced that it is adding new features to Dealer Direct, its online securitization portal, which will make it easier and faster for dealers to create customized Giant participation certificates. The new Dealer Direct Giant bulk upload feature allows dealers to upload proposed collateral for multiple Giants in a single collateral submission. A unique identifier is used to designate collateral for each Giant. Dealers also now have the option to upload a list of fixed-rate and/or adjustable-rate mortgage collateral without designating securities to specific Giants. Dealer Direct will analyze the individual securities and sort them into the largest possible Giant-eligible groups.
Purchase-mortgage activity in the GSE market surged 21.5 percent higher in the third quarter – and Fannie recorded a whopping 35.9 percent jump in such business…
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