GSEs

This year's assessment for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is the first to take into account a January agreement between the Federal Housing Finance Agency and the Treasury Department that allowed the companies to retain more earnings.

Increased purchase lending and added pressure from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s new loan limits should drive the likelihood of borrower misrepresentation.

While the hot market’s actual and forecast home price gains were key drivers of Fannie’s results, they also present a challenge to the affordable housing mission that it’s working to address.

The government-sponsored enterprise's single-family credit reserve release caused earnings to spike.

A hike in guarantee fees charged to lenders for the companies’ backing of loans was due to expire this year, but lawmakers now want to extend it to raise $21 billion for the bipartisan package.

Ensuring the safety and soundness of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan banks is the core responsibility of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. That shouldn't change now that the president has the authority to fire the FHFA's director at will.

The guarantor has for the first time proposed a risk-based capital requirement for companies not subject to other federal regulation. The industry says the plan, which would impose a heavy charge for servicing portfolios, could drive lenders away from government-backed programs.

In 2011 Congress paid for payroll tax relief by raising secondary market guarantee fees for 10 years. The Mortgage Bankers Association, and others, don’t want to see that happen again.

The plan aims to cut monthly payments by roughly 25% for homeowners in government-backed mortgages who are negatively impacted by the pandemic.

The agency’s new chief said eliminating the “adverse market fee” — in place since December — will make it easier for families to refinance while mortgage rates are still low.

The return of more normalized numbers for two key players in the home loan market could be the lead-up to a wave that’s been anticipated since the coronavirus arrived.

Estimates suggest public funds in aggregate may be adequate to cover arrears and potentially keep many in their homes as the eviction ban ends, but may not be evenly distributed.

Private mortgage insurers can continue to hold less capital for forborne delinquent loans, which helps them potentially upstream payments to parent companies in the third and fourth quarters.

The change makes it easier for borrowers exiting forbearance to get access to home retention options that might otherwise be out of reach due to skyrocketing home prices.

The Supreme Court decision cleared the way for further revisions to the agreements between the Federal Housing Finance Agency and the Treasury, which could include dismissing the January changes.

The Community Home Lenders Association has called for suspension of federal limits on the loan volumes that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can purchase from individual lenders. The demand came on the same day that the Biden administration fired FHFA Director Mark Calabria and started the process of nominating his successor.

Thompson, who was most recently the deputy director of the FHFA’s Division of Housing and Mission Goals, replaces Mark Calabria, who was fired Wednesday afternoon.

President Biden removed Mark Calabria as Federal Housing Finance Agency director hours after a Supreme Court ruling made the move possible. The administration is expected to offer up a nominee who will prioritize affordable housing and racial equity in housing instead of reforming Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The president will oust Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mark Calabria, a Trump appointee, now that the high court says the chief executive can do so at will. It's "critical that the agency implement the administration’s housing policies," said a White House official.

The justices on Wednesday threw out a key part of a challenge brought by firms including Paulson & Co., Pershing Square Capital Management and Fairholme Funds ​to the government’s collection of more than $100 billion in profits from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.