GSEs

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.

Two senior GOP lawmakers are warning regulators against preferential treatment for housing advocates and nonprofits in sales of nonperforming, government-guaranteed mortgages.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency appears poised finally to allow principal reductions, but it's been nearly a decade since the mortgage crisis and underwater borrowers are much fewer thanks to higher home values.

The agency may finally be reaching resolution on whether Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will allow principal reductions, two years into Director Mel Watt's tenure as agency director and nearly a decade after the mortgage bubble burst.

Ginnie Mae needs more, and better-paid, staff to keep up with growing risks on nonbank seller/servicers, the watchdog agency head said.

We are reminded frequently that policies with the best intentions often do not reach their intended recipients and at times lead to previously unforeseen issues.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac gave $186 million to the National Housing Trust Fund, their first such contributions to a fund designed to provide construction and rehabilitation of rental housing for low-income families.

Radian Guaranty is the latest private mortgage insurer to announce a change to its pricing structure for borrower-paid policies.

Redwood Trust is "repositioning" its mortgage business by focusing mainly on jumbo loans, according to its top executives.

The government-sponsored enterprise was enthusiastic about launching the 97% loan-to-value product when it announced it in December 2014. But it has yet to become a sizable part of Fannie's business.

Fannie Mae's net income fell 23% to $11 billion in 2015 from a year earlier despite benefiting from higher purchases of single-family and multifamily loans, the government-sponsored enterprise said Friday.

Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt stopped short of calling for Treasury to recapitalize the government-sponsored enterprises, but said "something needs to be done" before they run out of capital.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is launching a 10-day social media campaign, #HARPNow, to alert struggling homeowners in 10 states that they can still refinance via the program before it expires at year-end.

The Chicago, Des Moines and Cincinnati FHLBs have grown their life insurance company membership the most in recent years.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency's decision to exclude captive insurance companies from Federal Home Loan Bank membership makes the FHLB system like a private country club.

Strong demand for rentals will keep pace with new construction over the next few years, the government-sponsored enterprise says.

The Federal Home Loan Bank System was designed to provide liquidity to community lenders and traditional insurers, not to unregulated lenders that circumvent the membership rules.

Mortgage REIT says five-year transition plan won't have an impact on its financing model.

Housing policy focused on government guarantees and the 30-year mortgage hasn't done much to help low- and middle-income homeowners build wealth.