Ginnie Mae

Ginnie Mae is giving expanded loan buyout authority to certain issuers in order to help them remove loans affected by Hurricanes Irma and Harvey from securitized mortgage pools.

The former president of a defunct Long Island, N.Y.-based national mortgage lender was sentenced in federal court in Central Islip to three years of probation and ordered to pay $20 million in restitution to taxpayers.

The U.S. is investigating lenders for allegedly pressuring veterans and members of the military into unneeded mortgage refinances — unsavory conduct that not only leads to higher consumer costs but has consequences for one of the world’s largest bond markets.

Hurricane Irma could potentially affect more private-label mortgage securities collateral than any other recent storm.

Ginnie Mae will help issuers with certain servicing obligations if more than 5% of their portfolios are in areas Hurricane Harvey has ravaged.

If mortgage rates rise slowly as the economy continues to grow, the impact from the Fed’s unwind on housing likely will result in a decline in refinancing activity.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is facing a leadership crisis as top jobs go unfilled, leaving key decisions unresolved.

Critics of recent False Claims Act enforcement argue the Justice Department is too heavy-handed toward lenders and servicers. But in an industry reputed for shoddy processes during the crisis, perhaps stringent oversight is warranted.

For all the talk that Janet Yellen’s plan to shrink the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet will hurt Treasuries, U.S. mortgage bonds face a bigger test.

The year opened with hopes that regulatory and enforcement pressures would abate for the mortgage industry. The reality has turned out quite differently.