Risk management

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.

Data breaches have become scarily commonplace. But even small financial institutions can take action to thwart hackers and minimize losses.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's experiments with selling credit risk to investors are a critical element of new plan to merge the two entities and move them out of conservatorship, but what form so-called credit risk transfers take could make a big difference.

Banc of California in Irvine has agreed to sell its wholly owned investment adviser subsidiary, The Palisades Group.

The number of misrepresentations in mortgage applications continued to decline in February, benefiting from lenders' increased spending on compliance, said First American Financial Corp.

Widows, divorcees and others who inherit or otherwise receive mortgaged property often have a hard time getting loans modified because there are too many hurdles to proving they own the property.

The government agency that guarantees securitizations of Federal Housing Administration-insured loans is experimenting with a pool type that consists only of modifications and reperforming loans.

Freddie Mac has obtained new insurance policies under its Agency Credit Insurance Structure program.

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. and Digital Asset Holdings are targeting the repurchase agreement market as the latest use case for a blockchain solution.

Bankers are fighting back against a plan that would allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to invest in low-income housing tax credits, arguing they are critical for meeting Community Reinvestment Act requirements.

Five policy heavy-hitters issued a proposal this week to merge Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into a single government corporation as a way to move beyond the conservatorships of the two government-sponsored enterprises.