There was good news this week from the new director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), Mel Watt. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were schedule raise their fees at the start of 2014 and those fee hikes would have resulted directly in higher interest rates. Mr. Watt announced this week that he was putting a hold on those scheduled fee increases for at least six months to give him and his department more time to analyze the consequences of such a hike.
Here is what Watt said on the matter:
“Upon being sworn in as Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, I intend to announce that the FHFA will delay implementation of the g-fee and risk-based pricing plan announced in the FHFA’s news release dated December 9, 2013 (and detailed more fully in the Loan-Level Price Adjustment Matrix released earlier this week) until such time as I have had the opportunity to evaluate fully the rationale for the plan and the plan’s likely impact on the GSE’s risk exposure, the cost and availability of credit and how the plan would interface with the qualified mortgage standards.”
Anything that prevents rate hikes is good news to borrowers. Contact us today to get more information on available programs.