Despite what you may be hearing or reading, it appears that the Treasury Department (read the WhiteHouse) has no plans to cave whatsoever on the issue of portfolio limits for Fannie Mae and FreddieMac. Industry officials tell us that Treasury secretary John Snow is quite engaged in the issue andthat one of his biggest concerns is systemic risk of the banking industry. Officials say he fears that if a meltdownoccurs at Fannie or Freddie it could hammer the nation's depositories because banks hold billions of dollars inGSE securities. Treasury, we're told, is playing tough on GSE legislation and wants those portfolios reduced nomatter what. But the question remains: what is the "magic" number at which you cap the portfolios. Currently,the two hold $1.4 trillion in mortgage assets on their balance sheets...
Of course, the whole concept of GSE legislation could become moot if Republican Sen. Bill Frist of Tennesseechooses the "nuclear option" in dealing with judicial nominees. If Frist is successful in banning thefilibuster for judges, Democrats are promising to try to shut down all but essential business in the Senate. Inother words, all the hard work being done on GSE legislation would go up in smoke...
He's back: former Fannie Mae chairman and CEO Franklin Raines is serving as an unpaid adviser to RevolutionLLC, a new Washington-based company founded by ex-America Online chairman Steve Case. RevolutionLLC is a venture capital firm...
Yet another nonconforming mortgage conduit is about to be launched. We can't tell which firm but watch for theupcoming story in a future issue of National Mortgage News...
A record half a million workers are now employed in the mortgage banking and brokerage sectors, according topreliminary government figures...
Mortgage Servicing News Bulletin is the name of Mortgage Servicing News' new e-mailnewsletter. It comes out twice a month with servicing headlines, feature stories and statistics. To see a copyand get your very own free subscription,
WASHINGTON NEWS:The Federal Housing Administrationis planning a "major" advertising campaign in "selected markets" where the agency believesmortgage brokers may be guiding homebuyers to more expensive nonprime loans. The campaign is said to be an effortto secure a better deal for borrowers, but it also could help shore up the sagging government-insured mortgageprogram. Once the first choice of borrowers who don't measure up to conventional loan standards, the FHA is nowoften the last option suggested by lenders. In the second half of 2004, government mortgages (including those guaranteedby the Department of Veterans Affairs)accounted for just 5% of all originations, according to the latest figures from the MortgageBankers Association. The FHA hopes to win over borrowers by stressingthat "our rates are much lower than subprime and only slightly higher than conventional."
MORTGAGE PEOPLE: First NLC Financial Services has named Debra Rush-Santens its Texas regionalsales manager. E-Loan has named Darren Nelson chief financial officer. Nonprime lender Lime Financialhas named Wilson McDonald executive vice president and general counsel.
SURVEY REMINDER: Lenders and servicers don't forget tofill out our annual survey. Respondents will receive FREE our dailymortgage news briefing (which is called, of course, Daily Briefing) plus will be ranked in NMN, the Mortgage Industry Directory and other publications. To view thesurvey
DATA NOTICE: NMNhas just published its Annual Data Report, which provides rankings on the top 100 prime and subprime lenders and servicers -- plus channelbreakdowns -- and much more. Also available: NMN'snew Alternative Products Quarterly Data Report, whichhas rankings on the top interest-only, alt-A and jumbo lenders. For more info about these products, contact
@SourceMedia.com. Dee can also give you info about our "M&A Database." NMN is still offering research reportson " LOS Systems," " D2C Internet Lending"and " Retail Lending Over the Internet."For more info on those contact
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