Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will reduce their upfront fee for commingled securities to 9.375 basis points after announcing a 50-point fee last year, the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced.
Commingled Securities: Citing stakeholder feedback, the FHFA last year said it would explore alternatives to the 50-point fee, which the government-sponsored enterprises announced to help address their cost of capital. ICBA has opposed the capital charge under the Enterprise Regulatory Capital Framework given the potential impact on the fungibility of the GSEs’ mortgage-backed securities.
Pricing Updates: The FHFA separately announced changes to the single-family pricing framework for Fannie and Freddie by introducing redesigned and recalibrated upfront fee matrices for purchase, rate-term refinance, and cash-out refinance loans. The updated fees will take effect for deliveries and acquisitions beginning May 1.
ICBA View: ICBA has long supported level pricing across all lenders selling to the GSEs. It continues to advocate pricing that adequately reflects the credit risk of borrowers and the counterparty risk of seller-servicers and that maintains the safety and soundness of the enterprises.
