Servicing

In a pilot effort "to convince discouraged delinquent [Freddie] borrowers to pursue mortgage workouts," Freddie Mac has joined forces with 13 national and local nonprofits to assist them to avoid foreclosure. Freddie Mac's Borrower Help Centers in Chicago, Phoenix, San Bernardino and Washington will offer free, one-on-one "holistic" counseling to delinquent homeowners. In addition, Freddie has launched a national phone-based counseling Borrower Help Network. Freddie's "holistic" counseling assistance includes a review and feedback on mortgage issues, assessment of debt and credit profiles, and a borrower's ability to stay current after receiving a modification. The effort is based on the belief that fear and frustration are keeping thousands of eligible borrowers from getting help and receiving a loan modification, said Freddie Mac chief executive Ed Haldeman. Participating nonprofits can make a difference, he said since they are "trusted and valued sources in their communities." Freddie also quoted NeighborWorks data showing that compared to other borrowers, those who already are in some stage of foreclosure are 60% more likely to keep their homes, as an additional reason behind the initiative.

Purchasers who intend to be owner-occupants of Fannie Mae-owned homes will receive 3.5% in closing costs or an equivalent amount in home appliances for properties listed on HomePath.com. The offer expires on May 1, 2010. The effort aims to attract to the market more qualified buyers and reduce its real estate owned inventory, Fannie Mae executives said. Therefore it is offering an additional incentive to the homebuyer federal tax credit for first-time buyers and other affordable financing options. For example HomePath Mortgage and HomePath Renovation Mortgage listings also provide a 3% down payment alternative to qualified borrowers.

The Obama administration wants servicers to start verifying borrowers' income and eligibility for the Home Affordable Modification program upfront before they start the three-month payment trial. Under the new guidance from Treasury and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, HAMP servicers are expected to a use a "simple, standard package of documents" including pay stubs, to qualify borrowers starting June 1 or sooner. This update "should enable servicers to transition borrowers more quickly and easily from trial to permanent modification," said HUD senior advisor William Apgar. In jump-starting the HAMP program last spring, servicers were allowed to place borrowers into trial modifications without checking their income. This rush has resulted in a low rate of conversions to permanent modifications. Some servicers, including CitiMortgage, have already started verifying income up front. "We believe this will limit the number of borrowers who ultimately fall out of the trials," said a Citi official.

Fitch Ratings has downgraded 1,186 bonds in 871 residential mortgage-backed securities transactions that have experienced principal writedowns. Fitch said it had issued ratings in the case of all the downgraded bonds that indicated defaults were expected. Subprime credit collateral backed 290 of the downgraded, 286 were backed by prime credit collateral, 275 were backed by alternative-A credit collateral, and the 20 remaining were other unspecified types of transactions.

Fannie Mae bought $71.86 billion of loans from its seller/servicers during December, a 67% spike from the previous month. Compared to December 2008, purchases were up 50%. Even though Fannie had a good month in terms of new business acquisitions, its serious delinquency rate on single-family loans hit a new high: 5.29% in November, more than double the rate in the same period a year earlier. The figure includes all late payments that are 30 days or more past due. Late payments on its multifamily loans rose to 0.66% from 0.25% in November 2008. Fannie's late payments lag by one month behind disclosure of its acquisitions and other data points.

Genworth Financial's U.S mortgage insurance unit reported a net operating loss of $74 million for the fourth quarter, a considerable improvement from the same period a year ago. The Richmond, Va.-based company attributed two thirds of its fourth quarter losses to its GSE alt-A business, which soon will be mitigated by a reduction in its coverage on those high-risk loans. Genworth executed an agreement effective Jan. 1, 2010 that will result in the cancellation of approximately 80% of the GSE alt-A bulk risk-in-force. The agreement resulted in a total claim payment of approximately $182 million in January 2010 which was already fully reserved. This will reduce the GSE Alt-A bulk RIF from $295 million to approximately $65 million in the first quarter of 2010. Flow delinquencies totaled approximately 107,500, up from approximately 100,200 and 87,600 in the third and second quarters of 2009, respectively, reflecting seasonal increases and a decline in cured delinquencies. Loss mitigation activities, including workouts, presales and policy rescissions, resulted in $290 million of savings in the quarter, bringing total 2009 savings to $847 million. This included approximately $35 million in savings from delinquent loans that were modified through HAMP. Based upon reporting from the GSEs and certain servicers, Genworth estimates that there are approximately 22,200 delinquent loans that are currently pending within HAMP, nearly double the number at the end of the third quarter 2009. In Q4 2008 Genworth's MI business lost $114 million.

Richard Shelby, the ranking Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, believes Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac eventually should be spun off by the government and privatized. However, he warned that doing so will take a lot time and money. The "GSEs are in our lap," the Alabama lawmaker told American Banker. "You know, we own them. I would like to see them cleared up and spun off, whatever, see if anybody wants them. It's going to take a lot of money. There's a lot of guarantee out there. It's not implicit; it's explicit." When asked if he was saying he wants to privatize the GSEs, Shelby confirmed he does. "That's what I'd like to see done with them, because if you create a hybrid deal like this it's never worked." The Obama administration is expected to unveil its proposal for the GSEs in its 2011 budget, which is due Monday. Today, Fannie and Freddie in their role as secondary market investors, account for almost 70% of all residential originations.

Consumers extracted just $11 billion in equity from their homes using cash-out refinancing loans in the fourth quarter, the smallest such volume in nine years, according to new figures released by Freddie Mac. "It's not free money any more," said Amy Crew Cutts, the GSE's deputy chief economist. Ms. Cutts said declining home values and a lack of "no cost refis" for consumers have severely hammered the market. "Unless you have been in the house for a long time you may not have much to take out," she said. According to research done by Freddie, cash-out refis by consumers peaked in the second quarter of 2006 when $83.6 billion in equity was taken out of homes. Since then, the amount of money stripped out of homes using refis has fallen steadily. The GSE did find one encouraging trend: in Q4 roughly 33% of borrowers using Freddie Mac loans actually lowered the principal balance on their loans.

The Federal Housing Administration is expected to ask for Congressional approval to raise the annual insurance premium on its loans to at least 75 basis points and perhaps higher, according to industry officials interviewed by National Mortgage News. The exact figure will be released Monday when the President's 2011 budget is unveiled. Currently, the annual premium is capped at 55 basis points. The additional money raised would be used to bolster its reserve fund which is barely in the black. Some sources think increasing the premium to 100 basis points is a possibility but likely will not happen. "They have half-a-million in delinquencies," said one insurance executive, requesting anonymity. "They are absolutely going to hike it; it's just a matter of how much." FHA recently raised the upfront mortgage insurance premium (MIP) to 2.25%, a 50 basis point increase that becomes effective this spring. The budget document likely will include FHA's estimates on how much the premium hike will rise and a timeline for restoring the fund's capital ratio back to 2%. (At last check it was at 0.53%.) The Department of Housing and Urban Development budget also will have projections for FHA loan losses and claims in the current (2010) fiscal year and FY 2011. HUD wants Congress to enhance FHA's authority to seek indemnification from lenders for loans that go bad. Mortgage bankers are anxious about the proposal because it will increase their liability and risks of doing business with the FHA.

Freddie Mac purchased $44 billion in mortgages from its seller/servicers in December, a handsome 58% spike from November, according to new figures released by the company. For the full year, the government-controlled GSE bought $548 billion of loans from its customers, a 19% jump in acquisitions. Meanwhile, its total delinquencies climbed to 3.87% during the month, more than double the rate a year ago. Its retained portfolio fell to $755.3 billion at year-end, a 1% decline from the previous month. However, as the Federal Reserve begins to exit the GSE MBS market, Freddie and its sister company, Fannie Mae, could wind up buying more MBS for its balance sheet. Fannie is expected to release its monthly purchase numbers shortly. Both will report earnings in February but an exact date has not been released.