Securitization

Freddie Mac reported 30-year fixed mortgage rates plunged 10 basis points to 3.88% as of the week ending April 12 in response to the recent flight to quality.

As per its usual, the auto ABS market this week has been busy with deals. Today alone Bank of America, Toyota Motor Credit Corp. and GM Financial priced their respective auto ABS transactions.

Law firm Mayer Brown has brought on Richard Spitzer as a partner in its insurance finance group.

Corporate bonds offer a valuable relative value benchmark comparison for CMBS 3.0 bonds, according to a report released by Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) analysts today.

The Prestwick Mortgage Group is offering $128 million of Freddie Mac mortgage servicing rights and hopes to complete the auction by the end of next week.

Charles Schwab is looking for a managing director who will focus on conducting structured finance analysis on ABCP and non-mortgage ABS, according to job database Fins Finance.

The foreclosure crisis is loosening the traditionally strong tie homeowners have with their homes. New findings from FICO's latest quarterly survey of bank risk professionals indicate one way the slow recovery will affect distressed homeowners in 2012 is increased propensity for “strategic default.”

Lenders are hoping the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) will approve a 'qualified mortgage' (QM) rule with a safe harbor, protecting them from consumer lawsuits, but a legal analysis shows lenders may still be vulnerable if they are careless or cut corners.

Wider spreads in CMBS can bring down issuance in the sector, according to today's emailed report from Standard & Poor's analysts.

Roughly 33 full-timers will lose their jobs when Ally Financial closes its MBS broker/dealer operation, according to a company spokeswoman.

Mortgage application activity fell 2.4% in the week ending April 6, the Mortgage Bankers Association stated.

Sanctuary Housing Association and its subsidiaries, the Sanctuary Group, plan to issue a £300 million ($477 million) secured bond transaction to support their debt-management strategy.

Three banks suing MBIA accused the bond insurer of deliberately withholding damaging financial projections from insurance regulators who were evaluating its transformation.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) latest mortgage servicing proposals have the banking industry seeing dollar signs — and not the good kind.

Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) servicers completed 22,260 loan modifications in February, up 24% from the prior month, according to a Treasury Department report.

National home prices declined in January from December by 0.9%, reaching a level not seen since March 2003, according to Lender Processing Services (LPS).

After having gone through an enormous disruption characterized by unexpected deterioration and massive losses, investors in residential mortgage-backed securities have a number of reasons to feel unsettled. Regulatory uncertainty clouds the market's future and mortgage originations remain at historically low levels despite housing affordability reaching its highest level since the National Association of Realtors began keeping records in 1970.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has outlined rules that it is considering for residential mortgage servicers.

In prepared remarks today, Acting Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Edward DeMarco said his preliminary thoughts on using Treasury incentives to offer principal forgiveness to underwater borrowers.

Standard & Poor's will rate the new $473.01 million Springleaf Financial RMBS.