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| Government Corruption |
| Republicans Miss the Point on Mortgage Fee Hike |
| 2023-06-17 |
| [Future of the Freedom Foundation] Back in January, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced that mortgage fees for some borrowers would increase beginning May 1, while other borrowers would see their fees decrease. The FHFA is an independent federal agency that "was established by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) and is responsible for the effective supervision, regulation, and housing mission oversight of the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac), and the Federal Home Loan Bank System, which includes the 11 Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBanks) and the Office of Finance (OF)." The agency’s mission is to ensure that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — which buy about two-thirds of the mortgages originated by U.S. lenders — and the FHLBanks "fulfill their mission by operating in a safe and sound manner to serve as a reliable source of liquidity and funding for housing finance and community investment." These three entities together "provide more than $8.1 trillion in funding for the U.S. mortgage markets and financial institutions." As the May 1 date approached, Republicans began complaining that the mortgage fee hike would force homebuyers with good credit to pay more for their mortgages to offset lower fees charged to those with riskier credit. Two House Republican leaders even wrote a letter to FHFA director Sandra Thompson demanding that the Biden administration eliminate the fee hikes or else Republicans would "take action to repeal them legislatively and reconsider the parameters of FHFA’s authority." In the Senate, Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) penned a letter as well. He termed the new fee structure a "shortsighted and counterproductive policy" that "demonstrates a profound misunderstanding of the necessity of accurately tailoring housing finance products to credit risk and establishes a perverse incentive that punishes hardworking Americans for their fiscal prudence." The fees in question are loan-level price adjustments (LLPAs) — risk-based fees assessed to mortgage borrowers depending on their credit score, loan-to-value, debt-to-income, loan purpose, occupancy, down payment, and mortgage type. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #3 Magical Thinkingâ„¢ where Property + College = Success without personal effort. |
| Posted by: magpie 2023-06-17 10:03 |
| #2 Cause we obviously didn't learn from the 2008 mortgage debacle. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2023-06-17 07:32 |
| #1 Mr. Equity, may I introduce Ms. Needs Based. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2023-06-17 03:31 |