The Lede

Adverse selection in the commercial mortgage-backed securities 1.0 universe of pre-2009 loans drove loss severities higher last year, reported Fitch Ratings, New York.

The Mortgage Action Alliance--the grassroots advocacy arm of the Mortgage Bankers Association--issued a Call to Action yesterday, urging its members to contact their senators in support of recently introduced legislation prohibiting Congress from using government-sponsored enterprise guaranty fees for unrelated spending.

The Mortgage Bankers Association, in a May 21 letter to the House Financial Services Committee, said new Current Expected Credit Loss accounting requirements to measure credit losses could adversely residential and commercial/multifamily lenders, particularly community lenders.

NEW YORK--Rising inequalities, sluggish growth, political tensions and central bank policy "experimentations" are having their effects on the housing market. Economists here at the Mortgage Bankers Association's National Secondary Market Conference & Expo said these uncertainties are likely to continue in the next months.

Black Knight, Jacksonville, Fla., said following a slow start to the year, the national delinquency rate fell by more than 5% month-over-month to 3.47%, its lowest level dating back to 2000.

LOS ANGELES--Integrating business operations, customer and employee experience and technology can digitally transform the commercial/multifamily mortgage servicing business, PwC Partner Steve Robertson said here at the MBA Commercial/Multifamily Servicing & Technology Conference.

NEW YORK--Rising inequalities, sluggish growth, political tensions and central bank policy "experimentations" are having their effects on the housing market. Economists here at the Mortgage Bankers Association's National Secondary Market Conference & Expo said these uncertainties are likely to continue in the next months.

LOS ANGELES--Integrating business operations, customer and employee experience and technology can digitally transform the commercial/multifamily mortgage servicing business, PwC Partner Steve Robertson said here at the MBA Commercial/Multifamily Servicing & Technology Conference.

NEW YORK--Rising inequalities, sluggish growth, political tensions and central bank policy "experimentations" are having their effects on the housing market. Economists here at the Mortgage Bankers Association's National Secondary Market Conference & Expo said these uncertainties are likely to continue in the next months.

LOS ANGELES--Integrating business operations, customer and employee experience and technology can digitally transform the commercial/multifamily mortgage servicing business, PwC Partner Steve Robertson said here at the MBA Commercial/Multifamily Servicing & Technology Conference.

Wall Street Journal, May 28, 2019--Ben Eisen (subscription)A once-sleepy corner of American housing finance is increasingly buying up mortgages, and it stands to grow further as the government's role in the market shrinks. (MBA Chief Economist Mike Fratantoni mention)

National Mortgage News, May 27, 2019--Kate Berry (subscription)Kathy Kraninger, the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, is in a standoff with Senate Democrats over the bureau's refusal to examine financial firms for compliance with the Military Lending Act.

HousingWire, May 24, 2019--Jessica GuerinFreedom Mortgage and RoundPoint Mortgage Servicing are planning to merge, the companies announced Friday. The deal will make RoundPoint--which services and subservices about $91 million in mostly agency loans--a wholly owned subsidiary of Freedom, a full-service, nonbank mortgage lender and servicer.

National Mortgage Professional, May 23, 2019--Phil HallThe House voted along party lines 231 to 191 to approve the Consumers First Act, a bill authored by Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., Chair of the House Financial Services Committee, designed to reverse structural changes made to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau while Mick Mulvaney was the agency's Acting Director.

Politico, May 23, 2019--Marianne Levine, Burgess EverettThe multi-billion dollar disaster aid bill, which will assist states devastated by wildfires, hurricanes and flooding, comes after months of roadblocks.

American Banker, May 23, 2019--Victoria Finkle (subscription)One of the bigger questions is whether the GSEs should be considered systemically important. Although this is a topic that has largely flown under the radar up to now, it may take on new significance under a Trump-guided Federal Housing Finance Agency.

HousingWire, May 23, 2019--Jessica GuerinThe Congressional Budget Office released a report Thursday exploring four proposed solutions for lessening the cost and risk of the reverse mortgage program to the federal government. Reverse mortgages are insured by the Federal Housing Administration.

National Mortgage News, May 23, 2019--Bonnie Sinnock (subscription)The 114-count superseding indictment alleges three people associated with real estate investor Morgan Management--CEO Robert Morgan, Project Manager Todd Morgan and Director of Finance Michael Tremiti--along with loan brokerage Aurora Capital Advisors' owner Frank Giacobbe all engaged in a conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud against Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

National Mortgage News, May 22, 2019--Bonnie Sinnock (subscription)Government-sponsored enterprise executives appearing at the MBA National Secondary Mortgage Conference say they want to continue to offer credit risk transfers and guarantee-fee parity after the GSEs are released from conservatorship, but they might not be able to.

National Mortgage News, May 21, 2019--Brad FinkelsteinThe era of plentiful refinance volume is over for the foreseeable future, the result of mortgage rates remaining in a very narrow band for the past decade, said Mortgage Bankers Association Chief Economist Mike Fratantoni.(free content)

National Mortgage News, May 21, 2019--Bonnie Sinnock (subscription)Soon after acting Ginnie Mae Acting President Maren Kasper took the helm of the agency in January, she and other officials decided to step up efforts to address the issue of faster prepayments for loans backed by the Department of Veterans Affairs.