Freddie Mac

Three California men who previously operated Star Reliable Mortgage were ordered to pay $1.1 million in restitution and are facing multiyear prison terms related to a foreclosure rescue scheme.

Shareholders of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac say a trove of documents they have obtained bolsters their case that the government lied when it decided to take all of the mortgage companies’ profits.

Mortgage rates dropped for the second consecutive week, although the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury actually increased during the period, according to Freddie Mac.

The government-sponsored enterprises transferred $5.5 billion of credit risk on $174 billion of mortgages in their portfolios during the first quarter.

Policymakers should differentiate between housing finance-related issues of real importance to the greater public interest, and those that concern only special interests.

While Freddie Mac is moving cautiously into buying manufactured housing loans not secured by land, Fannie Mae is moving more aggressively. Industry representatives are divided on which approach is superior.

Rather than working with large-scale investors, Freddie Mac said it will focus on assisting community organizations and local institutions to fund single-family properties for renters with special needs.

The discounts that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac used to offer large originators for selling them bulk bundles of mortgages continue to haunt small lenders, who worry a new housing finance system could revive the practice.

Fannie Mae is increasing the maximum debt-to-income ratio it will allow on purchased loans to 50% from 45% on single-family loans when it rolls out its latest version of Desktop Underwriter on July 29.

Mortgage rates moved back below 4%, pushed by last week's weak economic data report, according to Freddie Mac.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency has added three categories to the list of protected classes under equal opportunity employment and inclusion rules for regulated entities.

Mortgage rates rose across the board for the second consecutive week, with the 30-year fixed-rate loan moving over 4%, according to Freddie Mac.

Property Assessed Clean Energy loans can no longer be offered in unincorporated areas of Kern County, Calif. The controversial loans, meant to promote energy efficiency, began in California and are now offered in a number of states.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's efforts to provide representation and warranty relief to lenders that perform automated data validations before loans close will improve mortgage credit risk assessment and lower costs for lenders and borrowers.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group agreed to pay $5.5 billion to settle the second of three major U.S. mortgage-backed securities probes the government-owned lender must overcome before it can fully return to the private sector.

Federal Reserve Board Gov. Jerome Powell stopped short of endorsing any single housing finance reform plan, but called on lawmakers to resolve what he described as the biggest unfinished business of the crisis.

As expected, mortgage rates had their largest week-over-week increase since March as yields on the 10-year Treasury moved sharply higher, according to Freddie Mac.

PHH Corp. transferred ownership of the largest chunk of its remaining mortgage servicing rights — its Fannie Mae portfolio — to New Residential Investment Corp.

From the largest banks to the smallest independents, policymakers want to hear the mortgage industry speak with one voice in the critical efforts to reform the government-sponsored enterprises.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency made just incremental changes to two of the seven affordable housing benchmarks.