FHFA

Although the Federal Housing Finance Agency did move ahead with a controversial upfront charge aimed at covering commingled securities risk, it also committed to exploring alternatives that would address concerns from trade groups.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is moving forward with the charge but also pledged to ensure it doesn’t undermine the uniform security’s advantages the way trade groups say it could.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency also noted limits to its authority in efforts to free the government-sponsored enterprises from conservatorship in its report to Congress.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will need to submit annual capital plans to the agency. The move follows the introduction of new public disclosure requirements through a separate action last week.

Talk'uments already enables English and Spanish speakers to understand their documents and will soon add Vietnamese, Korean and Tagalog.

The system may be good for the banks that own it, but it is not meeting its public mission.

The government-sponsored enterprises will start releasing information similar to what large banks already do, starting in the first quarter of 2023.

Calls for “reform” in times of high liquidity ignore the scalability of the system, and the need to have it around in times of trouble.

Moving towards bank-like capital standards for all independent mortgage banks that sell loans to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could limit consumer access to mortgage credit, writes Community Home Lenders Association executive director Scott Olson.

If lenders get to choose the credit-scoring model, the Big Three credit bureaus will likely set a price for VantageScore that is super low, so low that FICO cannot compete, just as Uber decimated the taxicab industry by setting prices artificially low until the taxicabs were gone, writes an attorney at the National Consumer Law Center.

If put into force, the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s plan will severely impact the working capital and profitability of IMBs, and reduce volumes in the industry, Whalen argues.

These standalone properties make up nearly half of all rental units and the financing of them by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should reflected in the Federal Housing Finance Agency's affordable housing goal calculations, writes Manchester.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have used the classic FICO score since 2003.

Its modifications aim to help two government-sponsored mortgage investors manage risk and rebuild capital while retaining enough flexibility to fulfill their affordable housing missions, said the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s acting director, Sandra Thompson.

The move confirms speculation that the Federal Housing Finance Agency would return to a pre-pandemic plan to tighten requirements for mortgage lenders and servicers that work with two government-sponsored enterprises.

The mention echoes previous recommendations to give the Federal Housing Finance Agency more authority over non-depositories that service loans sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

In an open letter to Sandra L. Thompson, President Biden’s nominee for Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, two longtime advocates of the Federal Home Loan banks suggest a new path forward.

Former principal economist at the Federal Housing Finance Agency Paul Manchester breaks down how the targets have been calculated and discusses the implications for the set determined for 2022 to 2024.

In a Senate confirmation hearing, the acting Federal Housing Finance Agency director echoed her predecessor’s view that restructuring of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should fall to Congress, and pointed to measures aimed at mitigating risk for the agencies.

The government-sponsored enterprise also unveiled two new tranche slices for investors to purchase.