RMBS

It appears that the sacred cow known as the mortgage interest deduction (MID) is on the table as the White House and Congress grapple on a budget deal to lift the federal debt ceiling.

The American Securitization Forum (ASF) filed its comment letter on proposed rulemaking as required under the Dodd-Frank Act for qualified mortgages (QMs) with the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (FRB).

Fitch Ratings said in a report today that improved fundamentals in the in the U.S. commercial real estate (CRE) sector has led to a greater percentage of stable outlooks for investment grade CMBS deals.

JPMorgan Chase's net exposure to the sovereign debt of financially troubled countries is just $15 billion. At Goldman Sachs it's a paltry $1.5 billion. Bank of America's is under $17 billion and Citigroup has $22 billion.

Six Federal Home Loan banks have launched a salvo against Bank of America Corp.'s proposed $8.5 billion mortgage bondholder settlement, suggesting the payout may need to be triple that amount.

Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., is demanding the release of federal reviews of 14 banks that have agreed to fix their foreclosure processes and reimburse homeowners for any harm caused.

It was essentially "status quo" in terms of the mortgage rates in the week ending July 21.

Former officers and directors of WesCorp Federal Credit Union told a federal court yesterday that National Credit Union Administration's (NCUA) growing legal battle with Wall Street banks over securities they sold to the failed corporate illustrates they could not have known the securities were faulty when they made the decision to buy them, thereby nullifying NCUA’s multi-billion dollar negligence suit against them.

Insurance giant MetLife said Thursday it plans to sell its banking affiliate but will remain in the residential finance and servicing business through its MetLife Home Loans division.

Two Harbors Investment, a unit of Pine River Capital Management, has hired David Miller as a managing director to oversee business development and strategic initiatives.