The private mortgage insurance industry, driven toward irrelevance during the first two years of the housing market collapse, is staging a quiet comeback in 2011. A new Inside Mortgage Finance ranking and analysis reveals that private MI activity in the third quarter rebounded to its strongest market share in three years, and accounted for 24.2 percent of new primary mortgage insurance written. While FHA volume dropped 6.2 percent from the second quarter, private MIs provided coverage for $22.01 billion in new mortgages, a gain of 38.6 percent. The increase in private MI activity outstripped...(Includes three data charts)

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac reported similarly sour earnings results for the third quarter with both government-sponsored enterprises expressing concern about their growing risk exposure to struggling private mortgage insurance companies. Freddie noted in its 10-Q filing that “the financial condition of certain of our mortgage insurers continued to deteriorate” during the July-September period. Fannie sounded a similar alarm in its own earnings statement. “The already weak financial condition of many of our mortgage insurer counterparties deteriorated at...(Includes one data chart)

Despite buying back some $5.4 billion in mortgages during the third quarter of 2011, mortgage lenders made only a small dent in the huge number of unresolved disputes with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over representations and warranties. According to third-quarter financial reports from the government-sponsored enterprises, Fannie and Freddie still had a whopping $12.2 billion of outstanding repurchase claims as of the end of September. That was down only slightly from the $12.7 billion in unresolved buybacks at the midway point in the year. The GSEs reported that seller-servicers...(Includes one data chart)

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and their federal regulator are facing considerable negative pushback from the mortgage industry about their controversial plan to change the economics of the mortgage servicing industry. The Federal Housing Finance Agency and the government-sponsored enterprises are trying to come up with a system that will provide more resources for servicing distressed loans and reduce the volatility lenders face as a result of carrying mortgage servicing right assets on their books. In addition to ultimately improving servicing quality for GSE loans and reducing default losses, the agencies appear to...

Old Republic International Corp. intends to re-enter the mortgage insurance business with a revamped business risk model, fresh capital and a new subsidiary if it obtains approval from state regulators and its two major policyholders, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The Chicago-based company, which also operates general and title insurance segments, still maintains a long-term strategic interest in mortgage insurance despite the negative trends in the sector, according to company executives during a recent conference call with analysts and investors. “But at this point, we have little, if any, idea as to the...

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s total taxpayer cash infusion could top as much as $311 billion by the end of 2014 – a “savings” of some $52 billion from similar projections one year ago, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency.The FHFA this week released its updated projections of the financial performance of the two GSEs, including potential draws under the Senior Preferred Stock Purchase Agreements with the Treasury Department. "The projections have been updated to reflect the current outlook for house prices, interest rates, and recent trends toward borrower behavior,” explained the FHFA.

In a major shakeup of its executive suite, Freddie Mac’s chief executive will step down next year while three members of the GSE’s board of directors are also headed for the exits, the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced this week.Freddie CEO Charles Haldeman Jr. informed the board of his desire “to step down sometime in the coming year,” according to the FHFA announcement. Freddie did not comment on Haldeman’s resignation, nor did it make the announcement itself, referring to the Finance Agency’s official press release in its Securities and Exchange Commission 8K filing this week.

Long awaited alterations to the Home Affordable Refinance Program announced by the Federal Housing Finance Agency this week are expected to be of some relief to underwater homeowners but it will do little to endear the Finance Agency to its critics, particularly among House Democrats, who think the FHFA should do more.Among the new HARP enhancements is the elimination of certain risk-based fees for borrowers who refinance into shorter-term mortgages and lower fees for other borrowers. Also removed is the current 125 percent loan-to-value ceiling for fixed rate mortgages backed by the government-sponsored enterprises.

Fannie Mae earlier this month released additional results of its new servicer evaluation program for the first half of 2011, noting that 11 out of 13 servicers in this peer group are considered on track to meet at least median performance levels.In February, Fannie rolled out its Servicer Total Achievement and Rewards (STAR) program, designed to encourage customer service improvements and better foreclosure prevention outcomes for homeowners by rating servicers on their performance in those areas. Fannie categorizes servicers into three peer groups based on the number of loans they service, with each servicer scored using the Servicer Performance Scorecard. STAR ratings are based on a five-star scale.

Under fire by its official watchdog, as well as by a senior House Democrat, the Federal Housing Finance Agency last week announced it has directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to transition away from the GSEs’ current foreclosure attorney network programs. FHFA’s directive – which it says is in synch with the Finance Agency’s Servicing Alignment Initiative to produce uniform foreclosure processing standards – will move toward a system where mortgage servicers select qualified law firms that meet certain minimum, uniform criteria. Under current practice in certain states, each GSE designates law firms eligible to undertake foreclosure work, and mortgage servicers then select and work with these firms, according to the FHFA.