A federal district court judge in Washington DC this week signed off on the proposed $25 billion settlement agreement between the federal government, state attorneys general and the top five mortgage servicers, putting in place a potential template for national standards for the mortgage servicing industry. On April 6, Judge Rosemary Collyer of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia entered the proposed consent judgments against Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase and Ally Financial, including a settlement term sheet and additional exhibits specific...

As the broadening of the government’s Home Affordable Modification Program is in the midst of implementation, servicers need to focus on executing new guidelines. To that end, PricewaterhouseCoopers released analysis on the way the administration’s modification program will impact servicers. Of the many programs and regulations in the works, including full-year forbearance, a homeowners’ bill of rights, real estate-owned rental programs and the joint investigation into mortgage-backed securities issues, the expanding HAMP eligibility is the only one considered “high impact” and in progress, making it...

Banks maintain real estate-owned properties unequally, with properties in minority communities showing clear signs of vacancy while those in white communities receive necessary attention, according to a new investigation by the National Fair Housing Alliance. The investigation, outlined in the report “The Banks are Back – Our Neighborhoods are Not: Discrimination in the Maintenance and Marketing of REO Properties,” looked at 1,036 REO properties in nine different metro areas, comparing those in predominantly Latino and African-American neighborhoods to those in predominately white communities...

While the word “subprime” often brings housing loans to mind, a new study by Equifax shows that subprime borrowers seeking access to credit cards and auto financing are having an easier time. Lending to subprime consumers for bank credit cards increased 41 percent on a year-over-year basis, with the bankcard limits at their highest since 2008, while retail credit card limits grew 6 percent. Subprime borrowers now comprise 46 percent of the auto finance market, with loan amounts up 14 percent since 2010. Total new auto loan originations hit a six-year high in December 2011...

A mere 4.7 percent of repurchase demands on loans in non-agency mortgage-backed securities have been resolved, according to a new analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. The $352.7 million in completed repurchases account for a small portion of the up to $64.18 billion in recoveries analysts estimate non-agency MBS investors could see from representation and warranty issues. According to new filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, $7.45 billion in repurchase demands on non-agency MBS had been made as of the end of 2011. The first-time reports were filed by securitizers that are still in business and did not include heavyweights such as Bear Stearns, Countrywide Financial, IndyMac, Lehman Brothers and Washington Mutual ... [Includes one data chart]

Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller downplayed concerns raised by investors in non-agency mortgage-backed securities regarding the pending $25.0 billion servicing settlement. “The current set of concerns aren’t particularly warranted,” he said this week during a webinar hosted by Inside Mortgage Finance Publications. The Association of Mortgage Investors has asked for a number of changes to the settlement, including a cap on the amount of principal reduction that can be completed on non-agency MBS to meet the participating servicers’ loss mitigation requirements. Miller said the AMI is the only group he is aware of that might challenge approval of the settlement by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. “I think that their concerns are not going to be realized ...

Bank and thrift portfolio holdings of first liens increased in the fourth quarter of 2011 compared with the previous quarter, according to the Inside Mortgage Finance Bank Mortgage Database. Loan modifications completed by the major bank and thrift servicers during that period also decreased significantly, as portfolio performance has improved. Banks and thrifts held $1.76 trillion in first liens at the end of 2011, up 1.9 percent from the third quarter of 2011. The increase in holdings suggests strong portfolio originations as some banks are allowing their mortgage portfolios to run-off and others are selling delinquent mortgages. At the same time, loan modifications offered by the major banks and thrifts declined by ... [Includes one data chart]

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the FHA accounted for 41.8 percent of the $84.66 billion in lending over the $417,000 threshold in 2011, the lowest share they’ve had since emergency loan limits went into effect in 2008, according to an analysis by affiliated publication Inside Mortgage Finance. The agency share of jumbo production peaked in the second half of 2009 at 53.1 percent.The government-sponsored enterprises and Ginnie Mae financed 36.6 percent of the loans exceeding $417,000 that were originated in the fourth quarter of 2011. That was down from a 42.7 percent agency share of the jumbo market in the third quarter of 2011 ... [Includes three briefs]

Unless Congress takes legislative action by the end of the year, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s “unlimited” pipeline of cash support from the U.S. Treasury will be significantly dialed back, a paper by Deutsche Bank cautions. Although agency mortgage market observers have assumed that the Treasury will extend the taxpayers’ unlimited line of credit to the GSEs before the Dec. 31 deadline, a close reading of the authorizing legislation suggests that the Treasury may not be able to extend unlimited support without the approval of Congress, noted Deutsche Bank.

Mortgage lenders, private mortgage insurers and the government-sponsored enterprises remained at loggerheads on the nagging problem of loan buybacks and MI cancellations as 2011 came to a close. Despite several “global” settlements by the GSEs and halting progress on legal wrangling over representation and warranty claims related to non-agency mortgage-backed securities, a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis reveals there were more unresolved buyback demands at the end of 2011 than there were at the beginning of the year. A clear sign of the persistent seriousness of...(Includes two data charts)