It appears (for now at least) that new product and program approval for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will wind up at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, much to the pleasure of the two mortgage giants. But the Mortgage Bankers Association and America's Community Bankers want it over at Treasury. Keep in mind that ACB and MBA's rank and file also are the largest sellers of loans to the two secondary market giants, which means there is a clear difference of opinion on where program approval belongs. Fannie chairman and CEO Franklin Raines told National Mortgage News on Friday that HUD has been "fairly restrictive" when it comes to product/program approvals...
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A major concern for Fannie is that lobbyists not friendly to the company will try to get language added to raise its minimum core capital ratio to 4% from 2.5%. Treasury recently confirmed that it has no such plans to do so...
Meanwhile, Senate Banking Committee chairman Richard Shelby of Alabama wants the Federal Home Loan Banks to be included in any bill to restructure regulation of Fannie and Freddie. The betting in Washington is that a bill is more likely to become law if the FHLBs are excluded...
Fannie Mae communications chief Chuck Greener believes a bill will get passed this fall...
According to NMN's crunching of the new Home Mortgage Disclosure Act database, in 2002, roughly 450 mortgage bankers funded loans to white people only...
Here's a loan category you may've never head of before: "NINJA." According to one poster on NMN's Grapevine website, it stands for "no income, no job and no assets"...
This year marks the bicentennial of the largest commercial real estate deal in U.S. history -- that would be the Louisiana Purchase , a deal in which the U.S. bought a multiacre parcel site from the French, doubling the size of the then-young nation...
This past week Countrywide's stock hit another 52-week high...
Standard & Poor's is evaluating its ratings on various residential mortgage-backed securities insured by General Electric Mortgage Insurance as a result of its decision to go to AA from AAA. ...
SUBPRIME ROUNDUP: According to the Quarterly Data Report, the fastest growing subprime lender in the U.S. (among the top 20, that is) is Encore Credit , Irvine, Calif. -- Stephen Holder's company. Remember a few years back when the future looked bleak for Aames Financial? Guess what? Aames reported profits of $29.2 million for its recently-ended fiscal year, a stunning 548% gain from the year prior. Saxon Capital recently securitized $980 million worth of nonconforming loans through Greenwich Capital.
MORTGAGE PEOPLE: The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight has named Stephen A. Blumenthal as acting deputy director. Blumenthal is heading the agency's probe into Freddie Mac's earnings restatement scandal. Mortgage PR maven John Lewis is no longer the most eligible bachelor in mortgage banking (OK, maybe the word "eligible" doesn't quite apply). Lewis was secretly married in Hawaii two weekends ago. During his career, John has done time at GE Mortgage Insurance and Freddie Mac.
WASHINGTON NEWS: Mortgage lobbyists (FM Policy Focus , you especially) mark your calendars: on Wednesday, the House Financial Services Committee will begin marking up the GSE regulator bill. If it becomes law will FM Policy Focus disappear? Let's put it this way: did Freddie (Krueger) and Jason ever truly leave us? This past Wednesday, the House passed legislation that will provide $200 million in grant funds to defray mortgage closing costs for 40,000 families annually. "The American Dream Downpayment Act" (H.R. 1276) was introduced by Rep. Katherine Harris , R-Fla. Rep. Harris made a name for herself in the last presidential election.
WATCH ON THE 10-YEAR: As we went to press, the yield on the 10-year Treasury was at 4.21%, a bit of a jump from a week ago.
MORTGAGE DATA: National Mortgage News has just released its new Mid-Year Data Report (M-YDR.) Want top 100 rankings on residential lenders and servicers (and their channel breakdowns) in the first half? For more information contact: Deartra.Todd@ThomsonMedia.com.
