Mortgages

Default risks soar in minority neighborhoods during challenging economic times because, data shows, homes there are overpriced relative to incomes. Zoning and other changes could make loans more affordable by boosting housing stock and driving down prices.

The Trump administration has moved forward on a plan to privatize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but Joe Biden appointees could take steps to slow or stop their release from conservatorship.

The new capital framework for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is a prelude to letting the mortgage giants potentially retain all their earnings. But efforts to privatize the companies could face pushback from the Biden administration.

The median credit score for new mortgages and refinancings climbed to 786 during the third quarter, its highest level in more than two decades, according to a report from the New York Fed.

The Federal Housing Administration said in its annual actuarial report that the capital reserve ratio on its mutual mortgage insurance fund increased to 6.10% in fiscal year 2020, up from 4.84% a year earlier.

Freddie Mac representatives would not comment on the sudden resignation of Brickman. Interim CEO Michael Hutchins has served as Freddie’s executive vice president of investments and capital markets since January 2015.

The teams include people who previously worked for the Treasury and the Federal Housing Finance Agency as well as HUD.

Wells Fargo is exploring selling a unit offering store-branded credit cards as the bank chooses businesses to keep or break off in a broad strategic overhaul, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The Toronto parent of BMO Harris Bank has joined a growing list of banks directing billions of dollars toward affordable housing and loans to low- and moderate-income communities.

The two companies first started collaborating last year, but now BBVA has white-labeled Prosper’s technology on its own website.