A new era of subprime lending is set to begin in the fourth quarter of 2009. The Federal Reserve this week finalized its revision of rules for the subprime market, with lenders winning few concessions compared with what was proposed in December. Fed Governor Randall Kroszner said the revision of sections of Regulation Z that implement the Home Ownership and Equity Protection...
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In addition to revamping the subprime market, the Federal Reserve’s revision of the Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act contains provisions on servicing practices, coercion of appraisers, advertising and mortgage disclosures for most mortgages. The Fed said it will also alter reporting for subprime mortgages under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. The high priced loans as...
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Subprime servicers continue to increase modifications on ARMs, according to a new survey by Moody’s Investors Service. And the American Securitization Forum last week expanded its teaser-freeze loan modification program. Moody’s found that the prereset modification rate on subprime ARMs increased significantly in the fourth quarter of 2007 and first quarter of 2008 to an average of 3.7 percent... {Includes one chart]
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The American Securitization Forum this week unveiled an ambitious plan to increase investor confidence in subprime originations. However, the effort to revive the subprime mortgage-backed security market relies heavily on information that hasn’t been disclosed by MBS issuers in the past. The ASF’s Project on Residential Securitization Transparency and Reporting calls for 135...
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Federal regulators continue to call on subprime lenders to get “back to basics” when lending to low- and moderate-income borrowers. At a LMI forum hosted by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. last week, Comptroller of the Currency John Dugan said lending aimed at LMI borrowers should contain four elements. He said the product should be easy to understand and have disclosures that convey key...
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The three major rating services struggled to rate subprime mortgage-backed securities in recent years, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The federal regulator said it used the findings of its 10 month investigation to shape its recently proposed rules for the rating services. Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings all received poor marks from ...
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Subprime loans dominate loss mitigation activity at thrifts, according to a servicing survey by the Office of Thrift Supervision.The federal regulator surveyed Countrywide Financial, IndyMac, Merrill Lynch, Wachovia and Washington Mutual. The servicers handled 11.4 million first lien residential mortgages, with total outstanding balances of $2.3 trillion at... [Includes one chart]
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The Senate last week approved housing legislation that would create a new program to be... Standard & Poor’s Ratings last week affirmed its “above average” subprime servicer ranking on... Fitch Ratings this week assigned an “RPS3” rating to American Home Mortgage Servicing for... A unit of First American Corp. this month signed a deal with Response Analytics help servicers...
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