Nearly three-quarters of senior tranches of the tobacco settlement bonds will default should cigarette consumption in the U.S. continue on its current rate of annual decline, said Moody's Investors Service in a report.Specifically, the rating agency finds that if the decline in consumption continues at a 3% to 4% pace, as Moody's projects, bonds constituting 74% of the aggregate outstanding balance of all the tobacco settlement bonds will default.

THL Credit Advisors, the credit affiliate of private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners, acquired a credit group from McDonnell Investment Management.

Moody’s Investors Service said that the CMBS conduit transactions that it expects to rate in 3Q12 suggest that the average Moody’s Loan- to-Value (MLTV) ratio, which is the rating agency’s main measure of balloon refinance risk, will increase to 102.1% from 97.8% in the third quarter. Given this expected 4.3% jump, the MLTV in the third quarter will average above 100% for the first time in CMBS 2.0.

Last summer rumors were spreading that a private equity firm had amassed $1 billion in cash and was eyeing investments in mortgage banking firms. A year later it appears that no such deals were struck by the unnamed fund, but that hasn’t stopped the talk about PE firms still looking at the sector.

In a Bank of America Merrill Lynch conference call held yesterday, Theresa O’Neill, an asset-backed strategist from the firm, said that participants in the consumer ABS market need to keep a careful eye on certain regulatory developments related to securitization, namely the bank capital rules, risk retention, as well as any new rules from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

Colony Capital LLC is one of the winning bidders on a Fannie Mae REO sale sponsored by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), according to bidders and other sources familiar with the matter.

Freddie Mac reported more new record lows for 30- and 15-year fixed mortgage rates as well as 5/1 hybrid ARMs.

Homes sales and prices – along with construction activity – have improved over the past few months, but a true recovery in the housing sector is still far away due to tight mortgage credit, according to Federal Reserve monetary policy officials.

San Bernardino County is forging ahead with deliberations on a proposal to seize delinquent mortgages, despite its largest city's decision Tuesday night to seek bankruptcy.

CoreLogic and FICO this week released the FICO Mortgage Score Powered by CoreLogic. This new offering evaluates the traditional credit data from the national credit data repositories and the supplemental consumer credit data in the CoreLogic CoreScore.

More than 90 members of the House of Representatives are urging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to provide a legal safe harbor in the final qualified mortgage rule to protect lenders from frivolous lawsuits.

McDermott Will & Emery has hired structured finance attorney Perry Sayles to its New York office as a partner in its financial institutions advisory practice group.