Posts tagged 'HARP'

Harp-ing on about mortgages and market share

Tracy Alloway used to be deputy editor of FT Alphaville. Here she learned the details of derivatives, the absurdities of accounting and the various structures of ... erm ... structured finance. She now covers big US banks for the FT paper, including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. She pops up on FT Alphaville every once in a while.

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| May 04 2012 16:14 | Comment |

When the godfather of mortgage securitisation speaks, you listen.

This week Lewis Ranieri devoted a not insignificant amount of time from his Milken conference panelist discussion to Harp 2.0 — the US government’s refinancing programme for underwater mortgages. Read more

Government may package and buy refinanced mortages

Joseph joined FT Alphaville way back in March 2010. He likes all the politically and legally fiddly bits of finance. He also likes credit, rates, global macro, tail risk, and all that stuff. (You should email him story ideas. He’ll take anything.)

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| Nov 11 2011 10:36 | Comment |

Policymakers are considering ways to buy troubled government-guaranteed mortgages from a new refinancing programme in case investors balk, people familiar with the matter have told the FT. Mortgages refinanced under the Home Affordable Refinance Program, which has recently been extended to cover more loans, are currently not eligible for packaging into securities. Officials are considering allowing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to issue MBS made up of refinanced loans to investors, and for the agencies to buy the MBS to retain on their balance sheet if a private market fails to develop. Read more

Harp-ing on about housing

Cardiff writes mostly about US macroeconomic issues, with daily excursions into other topics about which he claim no expertise. Before Alphaville, Cardiff spent a little more than two years as a reporter at Dow Jones Financial News covering investment banking, asset management, and private equity. Along the way he has written freelance pieces on a variety of other topics from behavioural psychology to Muay Thai, the latter also being a personal interest that involves frequently getting kicked in the shins (and torso, and head).

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| Oct 26 2011 14:15 | Comment |

One part of Obama’s new refi plan that remains open-ended is exactly which changes to rep and warranty exposure will be granted to originators. Since the potential for putbacks has been one of the biggest obstacles standing in the way of more Harp participation, the details, which we’ll have on November 15, matter.

To that end, here’s a useful chart from Nomura (click to enlarge): Read more

Obama unveils help for homeowners

| Oct 24 2011 22:19 | Comment |

US mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will ease the refinancing process for distressed US homeowners, reducing fees and allowing borrowers who owe significantly more on their mortgages than the actual value of their homes to acquire new government-backed loans, reports the FT. President Obama promoted the plan in Nevada, the state with the highest foreclosure rate in the US, says Bloomberg. (And a key state in the 2012 election.) FT Alphaville reckons the plan lacks key details and ambition. Read more

Harp II’s lack of ambition

Cardiff writes mostly about US macroeconomic issues, with daily excursions into other topics about which he claim no expertise. Before Alphaville, Cardiff spent a little more than two years as a reporter at Dow Jones Financial News covering investment banking, asset management, and private equity. Along the way he has written freelance pieces on a variety of other topics from behavioural psychology to Muay Thai, the latter also being a personal interest that involves frequently getting kicked in the shins (and torso, and head).

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| Oct 24 2011 18:16 | Comment |

Details of Obama’s allegedly supercharged Home Affordable Refinance Program are here, and the Wall Street Journal had the scoop on Monday morning.

For our part, we’ll focus on this, from the FHFA’s Q&A (our emphasis): Read more

FHFA discussing HARP changes

Kate is FT AV’s Asia Correspondent. She joined FT Alphaville in mid-2011 after carrying out various roles in the FT’s London office since 2005: interactive editor, companies reporter, and founding editor of the FT’s Energy Source blog.

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| Sep 12 2011 05:26 | Comment |

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are exploring ways to help homeowners refinance into cheaper mortgages, Bloomberg says, but the companies’ regulator stopped short of promising to deliver on a proposal from President Barack Obama. In his speech on Thursday, President Obama pledged to “work with federal housing agencies to help more people refinance their mortgages at interest rates that are now near 4 per cent”. Federal Housing Finance Agency officials met on the weekend with with mortgage industry executives to discuss possible changes to the Home Affordable Refinance Program, or HARP, the news agency says, citing two people with knowledge of the private meeting. Edward DeMarco, acting director of the FHFA, said agency must determine whether the programme can be expanded without more losses for the firms. Read more

A very slightly stimulating speech

Kate is FT AV’s Asia Correspondent. She joined FT Alphaville in mid-2011 after carrying out various roles in the FT’s London office since 2005: interactive editor, companies reporter, and founding editor of the FT’s Energy Source blog.

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| Sep 09 2011 08:20 | Comment |

As we noted earlier, President Obama’s speech was perhaps a little too hotly anticipated, given the political constraints it faces.

And markets were not deeply impressed — Asia’s main indices were up less than 0.5 per cent, and that’s with Chinese consumer price inflation slowing as expected. Treasury yields and crude oil futures were up, but again, just a little. Read more

Coming soon: $1,000bn resetting, recasting US ARMs

| Mar 02 2010 21:42 | Comment |

In 2007, Credit Suisse achieved something of a coup in what was then a much smaller, less mainstream financial blogosphere.

Analysts at the bank produced the following chart, which quickly (and uniquely) went viral, appearing on Calculated Risk and a slew of other housing and financial blogs. The chart even made a cameo appearance in the pages of an IMF report on ‘risks to global financial stability’. Read more