Tag Archives: Freddie Mac

Homeowners with mortgages guaranteed by Freddie Mac may be eligible for payment relief if they are located in an area that has been devastated by Hurricane Sandy. The GSE announced it is encouraging servicers to help borrowers through different forms of assistance such as suspending foreclosure and eviction proceedings for up to a year, waiving penalties or late fees against borrowers with disaster-damaged homes, and not reporting delinquencies caused by the disaster to credit bureaus.

The Department of Justice sued Bank of America for over $1 billion for alleged mortgage fraud related to the sale of loans to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Mortgage rate movement last week was "so slight it was almost nonexistent," according to data from Freddie Mac and Bankrate.com.

By clarifying the qualified residential mortgage (QRM) and QM (qualified mortgage) rules, regulators could attract private investors back into the mortgage market, Michael Held, president of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, told the audience at the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Annual Conference and Expo in Chicago Monday.

The housing sector is showing strength unmatched in previous years, according to Freddie Mac's Economic and Housing Market Outlook for October.

When it comes to creating sustainable homeownership, some economists are saying the FHA is celebrating results it hasn't actually achieved. In a new study, New York University economics professor Andrew Caplin and his co-authors investigate mortgage risk assessment and the FHA's actual progress toward creating sustainable homeownership. Caplin and his co-authors conclude that the FHA measuring the wrong data and using flawed results to estimate mortgage risk--specifically, the risk related to internally refinanced loans.

Government agencies have restructured for better risk protection and to position themselves to climb out of the mortgage and housing crisis of 2006-2009.

Following FHFA's report on HARP refinances in August, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods anticipate an increase in non-HARP refinance activity.

According to the FHFA, the government's Home Affordable Refinance Program is on target to reach a million borrowers this year.

The GSEs have increased their presence in the multifamily loan sector over the past several years, relying on these loans to meet affordable housing goals, according to a recent study by the Government Accountability Office (GOA). From 1994 through 2011, both GSEs generally increased the amount of multifamily loans they held. Fannie Mae generally held a lower percentage of multifamily loans than Freddie Mac. However, the trend changes slightly around 2008.