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A Sensible Framework For Housing Reform

by. Henry Meier

This week Senator Corker (R-Tennessee) and Senator Warner (D-Virginia) proposed legislation to bring about a post Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac FHA world.

The legislation is broadly along the lines of what I talked about in an earlierblog post. The basic idea is that Fannie, Freddie and the FHFAwould be done away with. In their place would bea new government insurer, the Federal Mortgage Insurance Corporation (FMIC),would be responsible for developing a standard platform formortgage-backed securities. In the legalese of the legislation the newcorporation would be responsible for developing a”standard form risk sharing mechanism, products, structures , contracts, or other security agreements which would require, among other things, that holders of mortgage-backed securities always take the first losses in the event of default.”This new government insurer would have the power to set minimum standards so, in theory, the government could prevent theissuing of poorly underwritten securities that caused so much of the devastation that credit unions are still paying for.

From a credit union perspective the primary concern has always been and will remain ensuring that there is a secondary market entity to which they can sell their mortgages.The good news is that the sponsors of this legislation have gotten the message loud and clear and they seek to protect credit unions and small banks in several ways. For example, one of the insurance corporation’s obligations in creating a standard platform would be toconsider how any future securitization requirements would impact the availability of mortgage credit for “small financial institutions such as credit unions and community and mid-sized banks.”

Another primary concern has been if you doawaywith Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,then who will purchase credit union mortgages? This legislationauthorizesa mutual securitization corporation that would be responsible for meeting theissuing needs of credit unions and mid-sized banks. As part of this obligation, it would be given the explicit authority to purchase mortgages from participating credit unions.

John Pettit