FHFA

For lenders and compliance attorneys preparing to implement procedures necessary to comply with the government-sponsored enterprises’ (GSEs) new Uniform Residential Loan Application (Form 1003), there are bound to be questions that come up along the way.

To provide answers, Dodd Frank Update invited DocMagic Chief Compliance Officer Gavin Ales and Garris Horn PLLC Partner Richard Horn to offer straight-forward, comprehensive explanations pertaining to a myriad of common questions about the new requirements in a recent webinar entitled “New Loan Application (URLA): Your Questions Answered.”

Read on to learn more about what insight the experts have to offer.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) issued a final rule requiring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to align programs, policies and practices that affect the cash flows of certain Mortgage-Backed Securities (MBS). The rule is intended to help improve the predictability of cash flows to MBS investors.

The rule will apply in instances where a “to-be-announced” MBS is offered to settle a trade for an actual MBS that will be delivered at a later date and time. Such securities are announced 48 hours prior to the established trade settlement date.

Find out more details about the rule and commentary that was considered.

Senate Banking Committee voted along party lines to advance Mark Calabria’s nomination to serve as the next director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), and also approved the advancement of nominees for the National Credit Union Administration Board and the Treasury Department.

The fact that Calabria’s committee vote was identical to the margin that advanced Kathy Kraninger’s nomination to become director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau does not reflect the difference between their confirmation hearings.

Read on for more details.

Asserting that it could negatively impact mortgage rates and credit availability, Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Mo.) wrote to the acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Joseph Otting, asking him how the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s current expected credit loss (CECL) standard will affect Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Luetkemeyer included several questions addressing his concerns about how implementation of the CECL standard will affect the government-sponsored enterprises’ capital reserves and lending abilities.

Find out what specific concerns he raised.

President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), Mark Calabria, faced questions about his views on reforming the secondary mortgage market to increase competition and the necessary regulatory certainty to continue to guarantee 30-year mortgages and affordable housing goals, among other things, during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking Committee.

Several Democrats pressed Calabria on views he expressed in past blog posts and other writings in which he was critical of the FHFA and its model for overseeing the government-sponsored enterprises.

Find out more details about what was addressed during his testimony.

A plan to end the conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac proposed by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) quickly has gained support from the financial marketplace.

An outline of the proposal calls for privatizing secondary market guarantors and restructuring the Federal Housing Finance Agency into a bipartisan board of directors, among other reforms.

Find out more details about the plan and what the industry is saying.

Six months after a federal court found its structure unconstitutional, the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (FHFA) independent status is being questioned by prominent congressional Democrats with regard to the agency’s failure to loop in Congress on purported plans to end the conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Referencing media reports that FHFA acting director Joseph Otting had discussed such plans internally with FHFA staffers and with the Trump administration, Democratic congressional leaders urged Otting to clarify what plans he has for the government-sponsored enterprises during his time as interim director.

Find out more about what the legislators had to say.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) will not contest the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals’ July 2018 ruling that the agency is unconstitutionally structured, according to a brief filed by the agency days after Joseph Otting took over as its acting director.

Although the FHFA appealed the court’s decision in August under former Director Mel Watt, whose term recently expired, the agency filed a supplemental brief under Otting’s guidance stating its intention to accept the full court’s ruling on the agency’s constitutionality.

Find out more details about the FHFA’s new stance on the matter.

To help the industry prepare for mandatory use of the redesigned Uniform Residential Loan Application, also known as form 1003, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac recently highlighted “new” and “updated” sections of their existing FAQ on URLA requirements set by the government-sponsored enterprises.

The updated FAQ includes six updated sections and four newly added ones, giving it 26 collectively. Some of the highlighted sections provide clarity about certain definitions pertaining to the new URLA form, technology based questions pertaining to the new requirements and more.

Read on to get more details.

With days left in his tenure as chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) led a hearing to discuss a discussion draft of a bill aimed at accomplishing the elusive task of creating a permanent and sustainable housing finance system.

Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) President and CEO Robert Broeksmit and Rick Stafford, president and CEO of Tower Federal Credit Union, testifying on behalf of the National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions (NAFCU), were among the industry representatives invited to weigh in on the merits of the bill based on their associations’ policy views.

Find out more details about what was discussed.