FHFA

Interest rates jumped from a new record low, while Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were widely panned for imposing a refinance fee.

The FHFA director’s move this week to impose an “adverse market fee” of 0.5% on most refinanced mortgages will shift billions out of the hands of American consumers and into the hands of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — and their private shareholders.

The new “adverse market fee” for refinanced mortgages resembles steps the companies took to combat the 2008 mortgage crisis. But critics charge it isn’t necessary and will hurt borrowers’ ability to tap into low rates.

Earnings reports out this week beat pessimistic expectations, but strained coronavirus relief negotiations in Congress cloud the outlook for what's ahead.

The agency said property owners can enter into new or modified forbearance plans if they have a hardship due to the coronavirus, but the landlords must agree not to kick out renters solely for nonpayment of rent.

Fannie, Freddie also announced they'll face banklike liquidity standards starting Sept. 1.

The mortgage giants will have to meet benchmarks for covering cash flow needs during stressed periods. The FHFA views the requirements as a prerequisite to the companies exiting conservatorship.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have imposed heavy price adjustments for loans that were granted relief under the pandemic relief law enacted in March.

Fannie Mae could be worthless to public shareholders, according to its newest analyst.

The Financial Stability Oversight Council’s plan to study the market explains very little about which activities or firms, like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, will be designated as systemically important. Here's some clearer guidance.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency will extend the same GSE benchmarks of the past three years into 2021.

A recent ruling declaring the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s structure unconstitutional signaled that a similar outcome awaits the Federal Housing Finance Agency. But the FHFA will argue in a new case that it does not deserve the same fate.

The council created by the Dodd-Frank Act to identify systemic risks launched a review of the market as part of an activities-based approach that shifts focus away from targeting individual firms.

The high court ruled June 29 that the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau violated the separation of powers.

A bond market once thought to be key to the futures of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — and the roughly $5 trillion of home loans they backstop — could instead find itself on the scrap heap due to their own regulator.

The $38.7 billion of equity withdrawn during the period was down 8% from the fourth quarter.

Legal experts say it is now more likely that the Supreme Court will strike down the single-director governance framework for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s regulator.

Mortgage insurers had been operating under the belief that rules pertaining to natural disaster delinquencies apply with COVID-19, but now it's in writing.

FHFA, HUD and Ginnie Mae should let the rate of prepayments on MBS dictate bond prices and market rates.

In a letter to Director Mark Calabria, 17 organizations requested an additional 60 days to weigh in on the proposal meant to strengthen Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's balance sheets post-conservatorship.