Would no mortgage payments for a year help if you were unemployed? You bet. And now the government has two such programs, including one announced just last week.

While the FHA has had a concrete forbearance program in place for some time, last Friday Freddie Mac announced that servicers now “must” assist borrowers who are suffering financial hardships due to their unemployment. Furthermore, Freddie’s program can be extended for as long as one year. Read the rest of this entry »

It happened much later in the day than anticipated, but both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have released the details to HARP 2.0.

While both documents are meant for lenders, and thus are rather technical, we’ve just begun to dig out the specifics, and will have more details on HARP 2.0 as they become available.

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News that the government is suing 17 major lenders hardly comes as a surprise.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA)–the regulator that oversees the now-nationalized Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac–faces massive losses, and it follows that in a litigious world a variety of issues would wind up in court.

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The big bank bailout is largely over and done–we hope–and now comes the conclusion that it was a success.

Financial columnists Alan Sloan and Doris Burke write in the Washington Post that: Read the rest of this entry »

With the current mortgage market in such a state of transition and change, it’s hard to keep track of all the different regulatory changes, let alone when they are slated to begin. Today, April 1, 2011, two changes to the mortgage market are officially underway: The banning of yield spread premiums (YSPs) and changes to Fannie and Freddie’s risk-based pricing adjustments.

If that sounds like a mouthful of technical terms and industry mumbo-jumbo, you’re not alone. However, this mortgage industry jargon is expected to shape the future landscape of the mortgage market and is highly-anticipated to affect your mortgage experience and increase costs.

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If you want to know the difference between conventional mortgages and Federal Housing Administration (FHA) financing, the first item up for discussion is typically the cost of each loan.

For instance, the Wall Street Journal tells us that “conforming mortgages, or those that can be bought by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, commonly require higher down payments than FHA loans require. The catch to an FHA-insured loan is that you’ll pay more in fees.”

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With all the complaining about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, it turns out that they’re doing about as well as banks and thrifts when it comes to delinquent mortgages.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) looked at delinquency rates based on the unpaid principal balance (UPB) of loans at the end of the fourth quarter of 2010 and found that some loan holders seem to be doing better than others: Read the rest of this entry »

There was a really interesting article written by Binyamin Appelbaum in the New York Times yesterday titled “Without Loan Giants, 30-Year Mortgage May Fade Away.” There has certainly been a lot of chatter about the possible disappearance of the 30-year mortgage given the pending Fannie, Freddie reform. Appelbaum not only delved into why the long-term loan may disappear, but also the impact to our mortgage market.

What would a non-GSE mortgage market be like?

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Since the infamous robo-signing scandal, we’ve been keeping up on the potential penalties lawmakers have threatened to bestow upon mortgage servicers for their faulty or improper actions against struggling homeowners.

Just last week we reported that the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency said that Fannie and Freddie “will be moving forward with servicer penalties… in the coming weeks.”

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Back in February we postulated that the reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would be the next president’s problem (whoever that may be). Recent comments by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner made before Congress yesterday certainly back up our claims (emphasis added):

Each of the longer-term reform options we have outlined will require legislation from Congress, and we hope to work together with you and your colleagues to pass comprehensive legislation within the next two years.

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