Lending

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should eventually be abolished and the government should cut back its role in the housing market while financial institutions should hold more capital, according to a report issued today by Treasury and HUD.

LendingTools.com CEO Eric Goering positioned yesterday's announcement that the Wichita, Kansas-based developer of correspondent tools had won its first credit union deal with Kansas Corporate Credit Union as a victory 10 years in the making.

Beginning Feb. 15, credit unions and other lenders in the SBA's preferred lender program will be able to approve the agency's new loans to aid underserved communities.

Economists at Ohio State University and the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank have found mortgages held by lenders are significantly more likely to be modified than mortgages sold on the secondary market.

The ink is barely dry on the financial overhaul bill and already some lawmakers and interest groups are looking at ways to tweak it.

CUNA has informed the Treasury Department that credit unions believe the federal government has a "very important but targeted" role in the secondary mortgage market going forward.