Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac might have to unload as much as $200 billion worth of holdings from their portfolios in order to handle a projected surge in delinquent mortgages that might have to be purchased out of their mortgage-backed securities pools, according to a new report by fixed income analysts at Credit Suisse. The two GSEs will have to cut their portfolios by about $360 billion in... Read More

The Federal Home Loan Banks and other major players in the mortgage finance industry are calling for the Federal Housing Finance Agency to reverse course and abandon a plan that would eliminate certain non-agency mortgage-backed securities from being used as collateral to support FHLB member use of advances. Earlier this year, the FHFA issued a study and some recommendations regarding... Read More

Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee last week pressed the case for putting Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on the balance sheet of the federal government, a volatile political move that would instantly cause the deficit, already at an alarming level, to leap even higher. “The government’s continued bailouts of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG, Chrysler, GM, etc. now hamper... Read More

Mortgage securitization activity at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac declined sharply in the third quarter as consumer demand for refinance loans began to wane, according to the Inside Mortgage Finance MBS Database. The two GSEs generated $318.18 billion of single-family conventional mortgage-backed securities during the third quarter, down 31 percent from the... [Includes one chart] Read More

Fannie Mae recently instituted a new minimum mortgage insurance option in a bid to help bolster the liquidity of the private mortgage insurance industry, but it did so – apparently with its regulators’ blessing – without the requisite public notice and comment period that a new product or program would be subject to as per the Housing and Economic Recovery Act. Officials at Fannie... Read More

Trial loan modifications being executed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac under the Obama administration’s Home Affordable Modification Program reached 202,200 by the end of August, according to the latest foreclosure prevention report issued last week by the Federal Housing Finance Agency. That’s about two-thirds of all HAMP trial loan modifications thus far, indicating that Fannie and... Read More

The apparently unfavorable conditions of working as a top executive for a company under federal conservatorship has forced Freddie Mac, with the approval of the Obama administration, to open up its purse strings and pay top dollar for a new CFO. Freddie new financial head, Ross Kari, received a $2 million award when he joined the GSE recently to help compensate him for potential incentive earnings... Read More

The mortgage finance industry, anxious to maintain the momentum generated by this year’s rate-induced refi boom and the first-time homebuyer tax credit, continued to press its case for extending the higher loan limits instituted for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in high-cost areas, even though the GSEs have turned in a mixed performance so far in that space.“The increased loan limits have... Read More

Most of the Federal Home Loan Banks generally support a Federal Housing Finance Agency proposal to institute a set-aside program for the use of FHLB Affordable Housing Program direct subsidies to facilitate mortgage refinancing, but are divided on requiring an AHP retention agreement, as well as mandating household counseling for participating borrowers. However, one FHLBank... Read More

FHFA Extends Comment Period On O.F. Directors Proposal:The Federal Housing Finance... FHFA Gets a 15% Bigger Budget As Staff Grows to Oversee GSEs: Hard times may have... GSE HARP Program Not Having Impact That Was Expected: Fannie Mae and... FASB Standards Will Have Big Effect on Fannie, Freddie, S&P Says: Two controversial... Read More