Rep. Mel Watt, D-NC, did himself no favors nor did he appear to win any new votes by turning in a lackluster performance at his confirmation hearing last week, but industry observers say President Obama’s nominee to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency could yet win Senate confirmation … with time. Both in his prepared testimony and during questioning by members of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, Watt placed a heavy emphasis on his biographical details, but he was light on mortgage-finance policy specifics. Republicans, as expected, politely hammered the Congressman on his technical qualifications, as well as his political independence, to serve a five-year term as the FHFA’s first permanent director.
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Sponsors of the highly anticipated, bipartisan Senate legislation intended to reform the mortgage-finance system without Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac unveiled their final proposal last week.But with reform of the FHA more politically urgent and a more radical House bill waiting in the wings, even the Senate bill’s most avid industry supporters don’t expect the measure to gain much political traction in the near term.
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Citigroup this week unveiled a $968 million legal settlement with Fannie Mae to cover current “potential future repurchase claims” for breaches of representations and warranties on 3.7 million first liens originated between 2000 and 2012. According to a statement issued by the nation’s sixth largest home lender, almost all of the money that will be paid to the GSE is “covered by Citi's existing mortgage repurchase reserves.”
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Legislation filed in the House two weeks ago would require the Treasury Department to once again amend its agreement with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to allow the GSEs to pay down the billions of taxpayer dollars the companies received while in government conservatorship.Under the Let the GSEs Pay US Back Act of 2013, H.R. 2435, – sponsored by Rep. Michael Capuano, D-MA – the GSE senior preferred stock purchased by the Treasury would no longer accrue dividends, as is the current practice.
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Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac forked over a combined $66.4 billion in dividends to the U.S. Treasury at the end of June with more payments – though not as large – expected for quarters to come. Fannie paid the Treasury Department roughly $59.4 billion, while Freddie paid about $7.0 billion. A large chunk of Fannie's recent profits are tied to “deferred tax assets” which involve the recapture of money originally given to the GSE by Treasury to bolster its capital position.
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A sharp downturn in refinance activity reduced Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s business volume during the second quarter of 2013, but the GSEs posted their strongest quarter in purchase-mortgage activity in four years, according to a new Inside The GSEs analysis. Fannie and Freddie issued $337.74 billion in single-family mortgage-backed securities during the second quarter, a 5.1 percent decline from the first three months of the year. The decline put an end to an upward trend in GSE production that took hold during the third quarter of 2012. Despite this, Fannie and Freddie business was up 20.0 percent over the first six months of last year.
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The head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s official watchdog may soon be packing his bags and moving across town to Washington’s Foggy Bottom. Last week, President Obama nominated FHFA Inspector General Steve Linick to fill a five-year vacancy as the State Department’s IG. A former fraud prosecutor at the Department of Justice, Linick was confirmed by the Senate in October 2010 as the FHFA’s first IG and is credited with building the FHFA’s Office of Inspector General up from scratch.
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Over the past four years, the number of insurance companies joining Federal Home Loan Banks has grown by an average of about 10 percent as several insurance groups have substantially increased their borrowing capacity within the FHLBank system, and there is more where that came from, according to a report by Fitch Ratings. Among the 17 top insurance company FHLBank borrowers at year-end 2012, Fitch noted that only one was not a life insurance company. "Life insurance companies dominate insurance company FHLB advance usage, mostly due to the presence of housing-related assets in their investment portfolios,” said Fitch. “Life insurers are usually more likely than other insurers to invest in this sector due to their need for long-duration investment assets to match against the long-duration and cash flow characteristics of their insurance liabilities.”
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Mortgages modified by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac performed about the same for a year after modification but Freddie’s loans had a slightly worse performance starting some 18 months after modification, according to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The OCC Mortgage Metrics Report for the First Quarter of 2013 noted that Fannie and Freddie loans each had a 17 percent re-default rate six months after modification. The two GSEs were similarly tied at the 12-month mark, each posting a 24.4 percent re-default rate. Daylight begins to crack between the two GSEs at 18 months, with Fannie’s rate at an even 28.0 percent compared to Freddie’s 28.2 percent. At 24 months, Fannie’s mods saw a 29.4 percent re-default rate compared to Freddie’s 29.9 percent. The gap widens at 36 months when Fannie stood at 35.2 percent compared to Freddie’s 36.3 percent rate.
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The linchpin for a viable and comprehensive National Mortgage Database is to ensure that the identities of both mortgage borrowers and mortgage servicers from whom the statistical information is collected for analysis are protected behind a firm wall of security countermeasures, according to project architects. During a recent webinar sponsored by the Urban Institute, Federal Housing Finance Agency National Mortgage Database Project Director Robert Avery told attendees that privacy is a paramount concern in order to make the project work. “The challenge is to protect borrower/lender personally identifiable information and provide useful data,” said Avery.
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