- The United States Supreme Court holds that debtors do not have an absolute right to appeal a denial of a proposed bankruptcy plan (mentioned in April 6 post).
- Maryland federal judge approves settlement between CFPB and Genuine Title and participants for illegal mortgage-kickback scheme (mentioned in May 4 post).
- CFPB settles with Florida law firm for nearly $12 million for collecting over $5 million in illegal fees. The firm enlisted homeowners to bring “mass-joinder” suits against mortgage lenders.
- Lead plaintiff in class action against Bank of America asks the Third Circuit to rehear case alleging violations of Fair Debt Collection Practices Act decided last month. The Third Circuit held that the FDCPA covers foreclosure complaints (mentioned in April 13 post).
- The Clearing House Association LLC, the American Bankers Association, the Financial Services Roundtable and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce support Bank of America in its Second Circuit appeal of $1.3 billion fine for allegedly defrauding Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac through its mortgage program, “Hustle.”
- In stipulation, Massachusetts Federal District Court voluntarily dismisses claims against JPMorgan Chase & Co. and other institutions in $5.9 billion MBS suit brought by Bank of Boston.
Tag Archives: Fannie Mae
Thursday’s Advocacy & Think Tank Round-Up
- Enterprise Community Partners issued a side by side comparison of the four housing finance reform bills currently in congress many of which seek to replace Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
- NYU’s Furman Center released its annual Report: State of New York City’s Housing and Neighborhoods in 2014, part I of which is a focus on density – notes that while the population has grown density is actually down.
- The Urban Institute recently released its Affordable Housing Needs Assessment for the District of Columbia in which it makes a neighborhood by neighborhood evaluation of housing need and concludes that on the whole housing costs exceed affordability for the majority of residents.
Friday’s Government Reports
- The U.S. Census Bureau released its economic indicators for the first quarter of 2015, both rental and homeownership vacancy is down compared to the first quarter of 2014. The Homeownership rate of 63.7% is also down.
- The Counselor to the Treasury Department’s Secretary for Housing Finance Policy, Dr. Stegman’s remarks before Fitch Ratings 2015 House View Conference on Residential Mortgage Backed Securities in which he discussed efforts to catalyze the development of a vibrant, responsible private label MBS channel.
- The U.S. Treasury Department’s letter responding to questions from Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), on the timeframe for ending the conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in which he clarifies the relationship.
Wednesday’s Academic Roundup
- The Rescue of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, by W. Scott Frame, Andreas Fuster, Joseph H. Tracy & James I. Vickery, FRB Atlanta Working Paper No. 2015-2.
- Architectural Exclusion: Discrimination and Segregation Through Physical Design of the Built Environment, by Sarah Schindler, 124 Yale Law Journal 1934 (2015).
- Assessing Financial Security of Low Income Households in the United States, by Jae Min Lee & KyoungTae Kim, Journal of Poverty, Forthcoming.
Monday’s Adjudication Roundup
- Quicken Loans Inc. filed a complaint against the Justice Department and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development claiming that they tried to get Quicken to make false admissions during a settlement. The Government in turn sued Quicken under the False Claims Act for improper underwriting of mortgages and benefitting under the Federal Housing Administration insurance payouts.
- The United States Supreme Court denied cert to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which argued that using contracts rather than grants to fund Section 8 public housing projects would impair the program.
- The Second Circuit Court of Appeals revived suit against Citigroup. The claims, which alleged that Citigroup tricked a Korean bank into taking $25 million in toxic collateralized debt obligations, were dismissed in the New York District Court in March 2013.
- Federal court requires RBS Securities to hand over which specific loans it is going to re-underwrite to National Credit Union Administration after allegedly causing the failure of at least two credit unions by misleading investors over hundreds of millions of dollars in mortgage-backed securities.
- Bank of America asks Second Circuit to vacate a $1.3 billion fine after jury found BofA had defrauded Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac using its “High-Speed Swim Lane” program.
Friday’s Government Reports Roundup
- The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) released its results to the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Guarantee Fee Review. Following the release, the FHFA announced that the fees would remain the same with modest adjustments.
- HUD released the 2009-2011 National Rental Dynamics Reports, which tracks changes in rental housing affordability.
Tuesday’s Regulatory & Legislative Round-Up
- Enterprise Community Partners made comments to the Senate Finance Committee’s Community Development and Infrastructure Tax Reform Working Group, as part of a New Market Tax Credit Coalition, which is calling for preservation of the credit as it has been critical to the development of affordable housing.
- Federal Housing Finance Agency finds, after studying the matter, “no compelling economic reason” to change the guarantee fees charged by Fannie May and Freddie Mac. FHFA’s review focused on reaching an appropriate balance between FHFA’s statutory obligations to: 1) ensure the safety and soundness of the Enterprises, and 2) foster a liquid national housing finance market.
