The Lede

MBA Servicing NewsLink will not publish on Tuesday, Dec. 27 because of the Christmas holidays.

CoreLogic, Irvine, Calif., reported 30,000 completed foreclosures by lenders and servicer in October, down by 25 percent from a year ago and down by 75 percent from the Sept. 2010 peak.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency yesterday issued a final rule to implement Duty to Serve provisions mandated by the Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act and the SAFE Act.

ATTOM Data Solutions, Irvine, Calif., said 86,561 U.S. properties were in foreclosure activity in November, down 18 percent from October and down 17 percent from a year ago.

Zillow Inc., Seattle, said rising home values are freeing homeowners from negative equity, allowing them to re-enter the market, but 11 percent of homeowners remain upside-down, or underwater, on their property.

Fitch Ratings, New York, said "strong due diligence is firmly in place" for most post-crisis U. S. residential mortgage-backed securities.

Latest News, Guidance on 'Know Before You Owe'

National Mortgage News, Dec. 15, 2016--Collins, Brian A regulatory 2017 scorecard for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac calls on the firms to transfer a significant portion of credit risk to third-party private investors on at least 90% of unpaid principal balance of newly acquired single-family mortgages.

SFGate, Dec. 19, 2016--Egelko, Bob Bay Area lawmakers are proposing to raise $300 million for low-cost housing in California by eliminating the state tax deduction for mortgage interest on second homes, a proposal that will test the strength of Democrats' newly won two-thirds legislative majority.

National Mortgage News, Dec. 19, 2016--Kellard, Joseph Two former executives of the failed GulfSouth Private Bank in Destin, Fla., and another man have been indicted on federal charges of defrauding the Troubled Asset Relief Program of $7.5 million.

DS News, Dec. 19, 2016--Baer, Kendall The Urban Institute December Housing Chartbook brought some welcome news for mortgage delinquency and foreclosure rates.

CNBC, Dec. 19, 2016--Olick, Diana ARMs are still around, and they can be the right product for a lot of borrowers. They can, in fact, be very low risk.

Wall Street Journal, Dec. 16, 2016--Taylor, Candace Buyer Craig Ramsey said he paid a 'very reasonable' $13 million for the unit in the San Francisco building, which has been beset by reports that it is sinking and tilting.

National Mortgage News, Dec. 16, 2016--Passy, Jacob PHH Corp. plans to close a Buffalo, N.Y.-area office next year, which will result in the layoff of 80 employees, extending the staff reductions already taken in 2016.

The Fiscal Times, Dec. 16, 2016--Scotti, Ciro A tax-reform proposal by House Republicans that would make the mortgage-interest deduction moot for most Americans is starting to set off alarm bells across the housing, lending and real estate industries.

Bloomberg Businessweek, Dec. 15, 2016--Berfield, Susan; Marritz, Ilya; Reitmeyer, John Chris Christie once called American Dream "the ugliest damn building in New Jersey." Will it ever open?

National Mortgage News, Dec. 15, 2016--Button, Keith Wells Fargo's disclosure documents notifying borrowers of pending adjustable-rate mortgage resets are defective because they do not include information for a single point of contact at the bank, a lawsuit filed in California claims.

Bloomberg, Dec. 13, 2016--Dolmetsch, Chris Credit Suisse Group AG must face New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's $10 billion lawsuit accusing the bank of fraud in the sale of mortgage-backed securities before the 2008 financial crisis, a state appeals court ruled Tuesday.

Wall Street Journal, Dec. 15, 2016--Tracy, Ryan The Federal Reserve on Thursday adopted a bailout-prevention rule that will force big banks to issue substantial amounts of new long-term debt-one of the finishing touches to its new regulatory regime for big firms.

Mortgage Daily, Dec. 15, 2016 Just a month after surging to a three-year high, refinances of government-sponsored enterprise loans fell -- with federally funded transactions falling to a record low.

HousingWire, Dec. 15, 2016--Swanson, Brena The metric failed tests whether SunTrust properly collected default-related fees from borrowers. Those fees include property preservation fees, valuation fees and attorneys' fees.

HousingWire, Dec. 14, 2016--Ramirez, Kelsey While mortgage delinquencies are going down, mortgage debt levels are expected to increase by nearly $4,000 from $194,875 in the fourth quarter this year to $198,435 at the end of 2017.

National Mortgage News, Dec. 14, 2016--Collins, Brian With Republican control of Congress secure and the White House soon to be in GOP hands, lawmakers are optimistic they can pass a bill that lowers tax rates and reduces a number of deductions. That includes the mortgage interest deduction.

National Mortgage News, Dec. 14, 2016--Passy, Jacob Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will replace the expiring Home Affordable Mortgage Program with a new loss mitigation option called the Flex Modification. The Mortgage Bankers Association had proposed a successor to HAMP called "One Mod" in September based on the work of a task force with representatives from 20 member companies.

Mortgage Daily, Dec. 13, 2016 Monthly operational data indicate that there were $1.7506 trillion in outstanding Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities as of Nov. 30.

National Mortgage News, Dec. 13, 2016--Fest, Glenn SoFi Lending Corp.'s securitization of its student loan refis for high net worth individuals is now a model for its recent expansion into super prime jumbo mortgages.

Business Insider, Dec. 13, 2016--Perumal, Prashanth  Zillow calculated how a rate hike this week would affect mortgage payments in 12 major U.S. metros by comparing payments for a mortgage with a 4.0 percent rate to one with a 4.25 percent rate.

National Mortgage News, Dec. 16, 2016--Collins, Brian According to sources familiar with the situation, the Trump team is weighing Edward Brady, an Illinois home builder, and Debra Still, president and chief executive of Pulte Mortgage and a former chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association, as FHA commissioner.

Mortgage Daily, Dec. 13, 2016 The amount of time it takes to liquidate a securitized defaulted mortgage appears to have peaked, and the timeline is starting to decline.