Risk management

Russia's moving into mortgage bonds to try to cut housing costs, and it's taking a leaf out of America's book to do so.

This summer, Freddie Mac will start rolling out a suite of tools that should speed sales of loans to the GSE. Relief from reps and warranties will take longer, however.

The June 25 launch, which will provide lenders with much more information about a borrower's credit history, will mark the first widespread use of trended data in the mortgage industry.

The government-sponsored enterprises' risk-sharing deals are being hailed as an innovative approach for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to offload credit exposure to private markets. But their growing popularity is raising questions about how these transactions should be reported in financial statements.

Credit access and homeownership for low- to moderate-income families are under siege by the DOJ's overuse of the False Claims Act, as lenders worried about punitive damages discontinue Federal Housing Administration loan programs.

After the Home Affordable Modification Program ends, servicers will employ myriad proprietary workout options to meet ongoing compliance requirements. But will more discretion in loss mitigation practices create consumer and investor confusion?

Going forward, Fannie Mae will be relying more on loan guarantee fee income from its single-family and multifamily businesses.

Borrowers who have defaulted in the past are generally considered to be a bigger risk than those who have never missed a payment. Yet the early performance of bonds backed by rehabbed residential mortgages is pretty strong.

Freddie Mac's second quarterly loss in less than a year makes it clear profitability is getting tougher as it shrinks. But it's a concern that must be weighed against more long-term efforts to reduce Freddie's overall credit risk exposure.

Servicing rights are high-yielding assets, making them attractive investments for hedge funds, real estate investment trusts and banks.

Freddie Mac is marketing its 20th offering of Structured Agency Credit Risk notes offloading exposure to defaults on residential mortgages that it insures.

During the mortgage crisis, servicers recruited people from the origination business to help with loan modifications. Now the two sides of the industry are coming together in a new way.

Borrowers continue to get smarter about the mortgage process, but from questions about closing costs to the minimum down payment and credit score needed to qualify, there's still a lot that can keep consumers confused during the origination process, or worse, on the sidelines of the market entirely.

Fannie Mae has completed its latest Credit Insurance Risk Transfer transaction, the 10th deal since the program's inception in 2013.

The statute of limitations on private lawsuits against trustees and servicers of housing bubble-era residential mortgage-backed securities could run out in a few years.

The National Association of Realtors is teaming up with a coalition of environmental groups, taxpayer advocates and insurance companies to push Congress on flood insurance reforms.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is continuing to reject calls to slash the annual premium for the Federal Housing Administration despite a renewed push by the National Association of Realtors. But some predict the FHA may eventually cave in.

Even while FHFA finally embarked on a principal reduction plan, critics argued it was a dangerous idea that made Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac less safe while helping relatively few people.

FHFA Director Mel Watt acknowledged that the principal reduction program may seem "too small and too late."

Fannie Mae has priced a $1.15 billion credit-risk sharing transaction through its Connecticut Avenue Securities series.