FHFA

Mel Watt's term as director of Federal Housing Finance Agency ends in January, but his exit may be accelerated if the accusations in a new report prove true.

Politico reported Friday that the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency is being accused by an employee of making inappropriate sexual advances.

Whoever succeeds current Director Mel Watt will have a front-and-center role in efforts to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The House Financial Services Committee chair also acknowledged that his capital-formation bill still faces a potentially tough Senate vote.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is suspending its ongoing review of new credit scoring models and will instead move forward with creating a regulatory framework for providers of alternative credit scores to apply and be evaluated for use by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

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Readers weigh in on the Federal Housing Finance Agency's leadership structure, react to a recent data-sharing debate, opine on whether banks should let consumers use their credit cards to buy bitcoin and more.

With ruling in GSE case, the two agencies are emerging as the test subjects for a legal showdown over their authority.

A federal appeals court in Texas agreed with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shareholders that the FHFA, led by a single director, violates the separation of powers.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may need to tap into U.S. Treasury funds when they adopt CECL, a new accounting rule that makes companies set aside money upfront for expected loan losses.

A Fannie Mae test to handle the private mortgage insurance process for lenders may raise concerns that it's going outside the scope of its secondary market mission. But the effort reflects its mandate to explore new credit-risk transfer alternatives, a company executive said.

The bill aimed at helping struggling homeowners also requires documentation of servicer behavior and FHFA evaluation of the services provided to borrowers.

No plan will be implemented as long as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac remain in conservatorship, but a capital framework for the companies could still have a substantive impact.

The agency proposed new minimum capital requirements for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that would only go into effect if the government ends its conservatorships.

In the continued absence of legislation, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s regulator announced work on a new capital framework.

Republican Bob Corker of Tennessee and Democrat Mark Warner of Virginia are acknowledging the legislative efforts to end government control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are dead, at least for now.

For nearly a decade, the FHFA has restricted Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from trying to influence the raging debate over whether they should live or die.

Freddie Mac has quietly started extending credit to nonbanks that issue mortgages, a move it says will help the companies maintain access to a crucial stockpile of cash if their home loans go sour.

The Treasury secretary said reforming Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will come into focus more in 2019, when Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt’s term will end.

The annual progress report on the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac conservatorships reiterated that a new credit score model will likely not be operational until after the implementation of a new Single Security Initiative.