Mortgages

The Senate Banking Committee chairman released an outline for overhauling the U.S. housing finance system more than 10 years after the government put Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into conservatorship.

As policymakers consider administrative reforms to Fannie and Freddie, they must address the problem of capital arbitrage to avoid overleveraging the mortgage system.

Readers weigh in on calls that regulators consider the financial risks from climate change, respond to Trump administration plans to overhaul the housing finance system, consider GOP strategy on the House Financial Services Committee and more.

The agency's acting director said he welcomes lawmakers' “insight and perspective” on how to end the conservatorships of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Ginnie Mae has restricted loanDepot's ability to securitize Veterans Affairs mortgages because of apparent churning of recent originations.

Assets increased 6% in 2018 to nearly $52 billion as loan originations surged and the company redeployed $2 billion of cash into higher-yielding securities.

A White House spokeswoman said the administration wants to work with Congress on a housing finance reform plan, providing evidence that changes might not be imminent.

Fixing the housing finance system is "the last piece of unaddressed business from the financial crisis," according to a summary of to-do items released by the Banking Committee's chairman.

Toronto-Dominion Bank is seeking to win back customers with home-equity loans — even as concerns grow over elevated consumer debt amid a slowing Canadian economy.

Last year’s Dodd-Frank rollback facilitated the Chemical-TCF deal; the Fed is holding a conference this summer to discuss possible changes to the tests.