Fannie Mae Revamps Mortgage Program

Fannie Mae is overhauling its mortgage program for low- to moderate-income households to better accommodate today’s financial and familial realities.

Mortgage Debt–The New Retirement Time Bomb

These days, baby boomers increasingly are carrying that debt into retirement. And while there are pluses to that (the interest rate deduction for some), many financial planners now advise their clients to pay off the mortgage. But they are much more concerned with credit-card, auto-loan and student-loan debt.

A New Race to Refinance?

The Mortgage Bankers Association says mortgage applications rose 11.3 percent last week, with the biggest increase from homeowners wanting to lower the rate on their existing mortgage. Refinancing activity was up 16.8 percent from the previous week.

Mortgage Industry to CFPB: Stop Normalizing Bad Data

The Mortgage Bankers Association, National Association of Federal Credit Unions and the Consumer Bankers Association have sent letters in the past 10 days to the Consumer Finanicla Protection Bureau. MBA’s letter reiterates its strong objections to the current structure of the Bureau’s Consumer Complaint Database and offered several recommendations to improve the database.

HMDA Data Expected to Brighten Mortgage Outlook

Mortgages are shaping up as one of the potential bright spots for lenders (and the economy) this year. The Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data due in the next few weeks is expected to show the turnaround actually began last year.

Blackstone Makes Investment in Mortgage Insurer PMI Group

The New York investment firm agreed to provide PMI with a loan for working capital needs, in connection with the purchase of a significant equity stake. Blackstone now has the rights to participate in future equity offerings and will nominate a director to the board.

MBA Urges CFPB To Improve Consumer Complaint Database

The Mortgage Bankers Association is urging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to make multiple improvements to its consumer complaint database so that the information presented to the public is more accurate.

Fannie Mae’s Mortgage Portfolio and Serious Delinquency Rates Drop Yet Again

While Fannie Mae’s Book of Business dropped slightly at a compound annualized rate of 1.3 percent in July, the GSE’s gross mortgage portfolio declined at a rate of 16 percent, marking the fourth month in a row ninth time in 12 months the portfolio declined at a double-digit annualized rate, according to Fannie Mae’s July 2015 Monthly Volume Summary released Monday.