Federal Housing Finance Agency December 2016 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) amended the Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act of 1992 (Safety and Soundness Act) to establish a duty for the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) (collectively, the Enterprises) to serve three specified underserved marketsmanufactured housing, affordable housing preservation, and rural marketsin order to increase the liquidity of mortgage investments and improve the distribution of investment capital available for mortgage financing for very low-, low-, and moderate-income families in those markets. The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is issuing this final rule which specifies the scope of Enterprise activities that are eligible to receive Duty to Serve credit. These activities generally are those that facilitate a secondary market for mortgages related to: Manufactured homes titled as real property or personal property; blanket loans for certain categories of manufactured housing communities; preserving the affordability of housing for renters and homebuyers; and housing in rural markets. The final rule provides a framework for FHFA's method for evaluating and rating the Enterprises' compliance with the Duty to Serve each underserved market.

In accordance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA or the Agency) is seeking public comments concerning the information collection known as the ``National Survey of Mortgage Originations'' (NSMO), which has been assigned control number 2590-0012 by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) (the collection was previously known as the ``National Survey of Mortgage Borrowers''). FHFA intends to submit the information collection to OMB for review and approval of a three-year extension of the control number, which is due to expire on December 31, 2016.

In accordance with the requirements of the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended, 5 U.S.C. 552a (Privacy Act), the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is making a revision to an existing system of records entitled ``National Mortgage Database Project'' (FHFA-21). The system of records covers the National Mortgage Database Project which is comprised of the National Mortgage Database, the National Survey of Mortgage Originations (formerly known as the National Survey of Mortgage Borrowers), and the American Survey of Mortgage Borrowers. The National Mortgage Database Project is for monitoring, researching, analyzing, and reporting information relevant to the functioning of the mortgage markets.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is issuing this final rule to reorganize and relocate the current regulation governing the Federal Home Loan Banks' (Banks) Acquired Member Asset (AMA) programs. More significantly, as required by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act), it removes and replaces references in the current regulation to, and requirements based on, ratings issued by a Nationally Recognized Statistical Ratings Organization (NRSRO). It also provides a Bank greater flexibility in choosing the model it can use to estimate the credit enhancement required for AMA loans. Additionally, the final rule adds a provision allowing a Bank to authorize the transfer of mortgage servicing rights on AMA loans to any institution, including a nonmember of the Federal Home Loan Bank System (Bank System). The final rule allows the Banks to acquire mortgage loans that exceed the conforming loan limits if they are guaranteed or insured by a department or agency of the U.S. government. The final rule excludes a proposed provision that would have eliminated the use of private, loan-level, supplemental mortgage insurance (SMI) in the member credit enhancement structure required by the AMA regulation, but does require Banks to establish financial and operational standards that insurers must meet to be qualified to provide insurance on AMA loans. Finally, the final rule deletes some obsolete provisions from the current regulation, and clarifies certain other provisions.