Category: Top National News

National Mortgage News, May 20, 2016–McKendry, Ian
Presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton appears likely to embrace a recent plan to merge Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into a single government corporation if she wins the White House.

Wall Street Journal, May 20, 2016–Tracy, Ryan
Big U.S. insurers Prudential Financial Inc. and American International Group Inc. would face tougher capital requirements than their peers under new rules outlined for the first time Friday by the Federal Reserve’s point-man on regulation.

National Mortgage News, May 19. 2016
From the Common Security Platform and Freddie Mac loan sales to new accounting rules and what direction mortgage rates are headed, there was plenty to debate during this week’s MBA Secondary Conference in New York.

National Mortgage News, May 19, 2016–Finkelstein, Brad
Fannie Mae is expecting a flat to declining interest rate environment for the next two years, while Freddie Mae believes rates will rise. Mike Fratantoni of the MBA predicted a 10-basis-point rise to 3.95%.

National Mortgage News, May 19, 2016–Passy, Jacob
The experience of updating systems and overhauling workflows that mortgage lenders gleaned from implementing the TILA-RESPA integrated disclosures could prove useful to portfolio lenders as they implement a similarly complex accounting rule for reporting credit losses.

MarketWatch, May 19, 2016–Riquier, Andrea
Here’s another sign the housing market is healing: even the undead are fading away. Zombie foreclosures–properties in the foreclosure process that have been left vacant–are down 30% in as of mid-May.

Bloomberg, May 19, 2016–Orr, Emma; Chiglinsky, Katherine
Essent Group Ltd. may have an opportunity to buy Radian Group Inc., the rival mortgage insurer whose chief executive officer is stepping down, an analyst at BTIG LLC said.

Wall Street Journal, May 20, 2016–Andriotis, Annamaria; Sidel, Robin
U.S. credit-card balances are on track to hit $1 trillion this year, as banks aggressively push their plastic and consumers grow more comfortable carrying debt.

Wall Street Journal, May 18, 2016–Stevens, David
MBA President and CEO David Stevens, CMB, argues that traditional banks have pulled back from the mortgage lending business, primarily due to the federal government’s onerous enforcement regime that is extracting hundreds of millions of dollars in fines and settlements. “Borrowers are fortunate to have well-capitalized and well-regulated independent mortgage banks ready to plug the gap,” he said.

HousingWire, May 18, 2016–Swanson, Brena
Housing is as close to solving GSE reform as it is in solving “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?”