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Jan. 7, 2011: Fannie training on new data sets; unemployment drops but rates improve anyway
Rob Chrisman
Why does the taxpayer always seem to end up holding the
bag? http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_theticket/20110105/pl_yblog_theticket/white-house-loses-nearly-a-quarter-of-its-value
And if anyone is looking for a cheap condo in Seattle... and
folks wonder why they have a bad reputation:
http://blogs.wsj.com/developments/2011/01/06/jingle-mail-developer-abandons-seattles-massive-bellevue-towers-project/
“The
fact that Bank of America’s stock surged after this
deal was announced only serves to fuel my suspicion.” So
spoke Maxine Waters, who is on the House Financial Services
committee. I tried my best to come up with something witty to
write after that quote, but couldn’t. But one to keep in mind is
that when uncertainty is removed, whether it is within a company
or the entire economy, prices often improve. Anyway, Maxine went
on to say that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae may have shortchanged
taxpayers when the U.S.-owned firms settled loan disputes with
Bank of America Corp. for $2.8 billion rather than demanding
more funds. “This settlement may have been both premature and a
giveaway,” the California Democrat said today in an e-mailed
statement.
How’s
biz? Yesterday I wrote, “I am hearing antidotal stories of
locked pipelines and applications dropping 50% in recent weeks,
given the combination of rates moving higher, existing pipelines
funding, and new business being slow.” I received several
responses that confirmed pipelines are indeed down, summarized
by, “I will second that, Rob. Our hedged pipeline is just a
hair over 50% of what it was 90 days ago, for all the reasons
you’ve mentioned. BTW, I think you meant “anecdotal”. If you
hear about an “antidote” for shrinking pipelines, please let me
know where to find it.” Well said.
If you
are an originator in Wisconsin who is upset with licensing being
linked to credit reports, you might want to check out http://www.gopetition.com/petition/41829html
or write to info@noMLOcreditreports.com
Another
reader wrote, “I'm wondering if you've seen this press release
from 360? Here is a paragraph right from the Federal
Register: ‘Comment 36(d)(1)–7 provides that loan originator
compensation may be paid directly by the consumer whether it is
paid in cash or out of the loan proceeds. However, payments by
the creditor to the loan originator that are derived from an
increased interest rate are not considered compensation received
directly from the consumer.’ Comment 36(d)(1)–7 further
clarifies that origination points charged by a creditor are not
compensation paid directly by a consumer to a loan originator
whether they are paid in cash or out of loan proceeds. If a
creditor pays compensation to the loan originator out of points,
the loan originator may not also collect compensation directly
from the consumer. This section, unless I am wrong, says that
YSP (payments…derived from an increased interest rate) is not
considered the borrower's funds. So 360's take on the new GFE
solving this whole problem is misguided at best. As much as I
don't need additional competition, I also don't want to see
several players in the industry adopt this philosophy/policy and
end up putting themselves out of business. I have read nothing
from the FRB, MBA or any other source that contradicts the
highlighted statement and I don't think I'm reading it the wrong
way. Perhaps you could put something in your newsletter about
it and get additional feedback. I would be interested to get
other opinions not only about this, but about what IS going to
happen in April.
New data requirements will be here before we know it, and Fannie
Mae does not want you to be caught unaware. Information for
the Uniform Mortgage Data Program (UMDP), Uniform Loan
Delivery Dataset (ULDD) and Uniform Appraisal Dataset (UAD)
resources can be found at some training sessions that
Fannie has coming up – probably a must for Ops folks:
January
19, 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m., ET
https://www.cvent.com/EVENTS/Register/IdentityConfirmation.aspx?eG0fa6a0-ecc9-4f57-b999-de7adb04b900
January 20, 3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m., ET
https://www.cvent.com/EVENTS/Register/IdentityConfirmation.aspx?e9f7b0ed7-252e-49d0-8923-329573a39a11
January 26, 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m., ET
https://www.cvent.com/EVENTS/Register/IdentityConfirmation.aspx?e˜30909e-a034-4787-9887-232212c52f39
January 27, 3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m., ET
https://www.cvent.com/EVENTS/Register/IdentityConfirmation.aspx?ef3e35d2b-50df-45bc-8232-42663870b8aa
PHH spread the word about the USDA’s new Administrative
Notice (4543) with several program changes that will be
effective for all USDA Rural Development (971) loans that have
not received a Conditional Commitment. It is best to check PHH’s
note, which involves retained property, adverse credit history
waivers, borrowers enrolled in consumer credit counseling, etc.
GMAC
Bank
Correspondents noted that GMACB is updating the HomePath
Conforming Fixed and ARM products. More specifically, GMACB is
amending the current Condo requirements for insurance and
verification of Condo Hotels.
I will
say that for the most part, investors have been pretty quiet
recently. Maybe it is the holidays, or maybe many are
content with their current underwriting guidelines, who knows.
On to
the market! Regardless of what happened yesterday, this morning
we have had the monthly unemployment data. The number that will
grab the headlines will be the unemployment rate dropping to
9.4% - the lowest in quite some time. But non-farm payroll
rosters were lower than expected, at least lower than expected
given the strong ADP number Wednesday. In terms of mortgage
pricing, not only have mortgage spreads (to Treasury yields)
tightened, but fixed income securities have improved in general
– two bonuses!
Taking
a quick glance at yesterday, the 10-yr yield improved to
3.42% - right now we’re down to 3.38%. MBS prices improved by
.250-.375 yesterday, and are doing better again today by the
same. Good to see!
Year to date statistics on Airport pat-down screening from the
TSA:
Terrorist Plots Discovered 0
Transvestites 133
Hernias 1,485
Hemorrhoid Cases 3,172
Incontinence 6,418
Enlarged Prostates 8,249
Breast Implants 59,350
Natural Blondes 3
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