The Chattanoogan.com, Sept. 16, 2015 The legislation would prohibit any increase in the guarantee fee–which is required to be charged by government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac–from offsetting other government spending while also prohibiting the sale of Treasury-owned senior preferred shares in the GSEs without congressional approval and structural housing finance reform.
Category: Top National News
Mortgage Applications Plunge 7% Ahead of Fed Decision
CNBC, Sept. 16, 2015–Olick, Diana
Total mortgage application volume decreased 7 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ending September 11th versus the earlier week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Banking Groups Expect to Fight ‘G-Fee’ Raids This Fall
Scotsman Guide, Sept. 16, 2015–Whitman, Victor
Housing and banking groups are gearing up for fights this fall over the use of money collected by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to insure mortgage-backed securities.
All in the Family: The New Mortgage Math
Marketplace, Sept. 16, 2015–King, Noel
Fannie Mae is making changes to a mortgage product for middle- and low-income earners in order to better reflect the way many folks live now: with working parents, children or roommates who may not be the main mortgage borrower, but who pitch in money for rent, groceries and utilities.
RBS Agrees to $129.6 Million Mortgage Settlement with U.S. Regulator
MarketWatch, Sept. 16, 2015–Sjolin, Sara
Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC agreed to pay $129.6 million to settle claims by a U.S. regulator that the British lender sold toxic mortgage-backed securities to now-defunct U.S. credit unions, according to the court filing on Tuesday.
Investors Look Beyond Fed Meeting, See Low Rates
Wall Street Journal, Sept. 16, 2015–Zeng, Min; Albanese, Chiarra
Investors may be mixed on what the Federal Reserve will do with interest rates this week. But they are more aligned on what they expect to happen next with rates: not much.
Ocwen Expects to Report Loss in Current Fiscal Year
Mortgage Servicing News, Sept. 16, 2015–Peters, Andy
Ocwen Financial said it expects to report a loss in its current fiscal year, as it continues to cut costs amid an investigation of its practices.
Senate Unanimously Passes Bill to Cap Fannie, Freddie Pay
HousingWire, Sept. 16, 2015
A congressional move to limit the salaries for the CEOs of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac moved a step closer Tuesday night when the Senate unanimously passed a version of the House’s Equity in Government Compensation Act of 2015.
Weak U.S. Inflation Complicates Fed Rate Decision
Reuters, Sept. 16, 2015–Mutikani, Lucia
U.S. consumer prices unexpectedly fell in August as gasoline prices resumed their decline and a strong dollar curbed the cost of other goods, pointing to tame inflation that complicates the Federal Reserve’s decision whether to hike interest rates.
Tech Firms Venture Into New Territory: Lending
Wall Street Journal, Sept. 16, 2015–Simon, Ruth
Intuit, PayPal and Square already know how much money millions of small businesses are bringing in each day. Now these tech firms are stepping up efforts to mine that data to get into the lending business.