Loan Think

Two Republican legislators have suggested that affordable housing funding should be put on hold until Congress finally decides what to do about Fannie and Freddie. But why give Congress another six years to fiddle around with housing finance while the poor and homeless face a declining level of government housing assistance?

By selecting a niche, originators do not need to have the best rates to attract new business.

Regulatory attention is supposed to be laser-focused on servicers right now, especially when it comes to how consistent they are in applying workouts. So regulators should be looking closely at whether loans have forbearance.

Fannie Mae recently released its Collateral Underwriter automated risk assessment tool, which evaluates the risk associated with appraisals. It does not accept or reject appraisals, nor does it provide lenders with an estimate of a property's value.

Before the Dodd Frank Act went into effect in 2010, the residential mortgage market was in an entirely different state — particularly in regards to servicing. Several large servicers dominated the market, but ultimately shed most of their servicing assets, creating a substantially large segment of midsize servicers.

With conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac well into its seventh year, the government has now had control of the housing agencies longer than 47 members of the Senate have been office.

Consent decrees issued (and not issued) last week demonstrate how having appropriate compliance controls can and will make a major difference in any potential regulatory response.

The traditional method of measuring mortgage denials is fundamentally flawed. But by evaluating not just the quantity, but also the quality of mortgage applicants, the denial rate picture becomes more clear.

When writing your own State of the Union presentation, skip to the part where you lay out the vision for what your company will be in the future.

The pension fund sector owns hundreds of billions of dollars of mortgage securities. But MBS holdings are such a small percentage of their portfolios, pensions may not be aware of their heft in the industry.