ICBA welcomed the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s announcement that it will eliminate an ICBA-opposed fee on refinance loans delivered to the government-sponsored enterprises.
Announcement: Effective for loans delivered on Aug. 1 or later, lenders will no longer be required to pay Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac the 50-basis-point Adverse Market Refinance Fee, which was introduced last year to ICBA opposition.
Background: After introducing the fee to cover projected losses at the GSEs caused by pandemic-related renter and borrower protections, the FHFA delayed the fee to December 2020 and exempted smaller loans following an ICBA grassroots and media campaign, including an American Banker op-ed.
More: In its announcement Friday, the FHFA said the success of the GSEs’ COVID-19 policies reduced the impact of the pandemic enough to warrant an early end of the fee.