We are open for business! See updates on our operational status amid COVID-19. Learn more

Blog

CARES Act Forbearance Relief Expiration - What's next?

CARES Act Forbearance Relief Expiration - What's next?

Amanda Bateman
Mortgage Industry Blogger
AS CARES ACT MORTGAGE FORBEARANCE PERIODS NEAR END, BORROWERS AND MORTGAGE SERVICES PROVIDERS ALIKE ASK: WHATS NEXT?
AS CARES ACT MORTGAGE FORBEARANCE PERIODS NEAR END, BORROWERS AND MORTGAGE SERVICES PROVIDERS ALIKE ASK: WHATS NEXT? According to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association and Black Knight, the number of COVID-19 forbearance plans has declined at an increasing rate in recent weeks. Per Black...
Read more ›
U.S. RMBS Market Readies Itself for LIBOR Transition

U.S. RMBS Market Readies Itself for LIBOR Transition

Amanda Bateman
Mortgage Industry Blogger
The structured finance and residential mortgage backed securities market are currently preparing themselves for an event that is being described as the equivalent of Y2K for banking: December 31, 2021, when the London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) will no longer be an available index. When asked...
Read more ›
Congress, FHFA and the GSEs’ Efforts to Grapple with Covid-Related Housing Market Issues Highlighted at House Financial Services Committee Hearing

Congress, FHFA and the GSEs’ Efforts to Grapple with Covid-Related Housing Market Issues Highlighted at House Financial Services Committee Hearing

Amanda Bateman
Mortgage Industry Blogger
On Wednesday, September 16th, Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Mark Calabria testified before the House Financial Services Committee (HFSC) regarding his agency’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Of particular interest to committee members – as well as the mortgage industry at-large...
Read more ›
OAKLEAF EXPANDS SERVICE OFFERINGS AS 2020 MORTGAGE APPLICATION RATE REMAINS HIGH

OAKLEAF EXPANDS SERVICE OFFERINGS AS 2020 MORTGAGE APPLICATION RATE REMAINS HIGH

Amanda Bateman
Mortgage Industry Blogger
As we know, the more liquid, dynamic mortgage financing market we are now in has placed additional pressure on lenders to process and underwrite loans. Below we review some of the most recent data demonstrating what is driving this demand. To assist mortgage finance clients with fulfilling their...
Read more ›

Freddie Mac STACR Servicer Performance Observations

By Christine Brunie & Stella Lu Oakleaf Group analyzed the mortgage data representing the underlying collateral backing the Freddie Mac STACR credit risk transfer transactions. This data represents 28,305,404 loans originated between from 2012 and 2020 [1] . According to freddiemac.com the...
Read more ›

Unexpected Decreases in April 2020 Loan Delinquencies Among Some Non-Agency RMBS Servicers

Christine Brunie
Senior Advisor
According to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s latest Foreclosure and Call Volume Survey [1] , the total number of loans in forbearance increased to 8.46% from the prior week’s total of 8.36%. A total of 4.2 million homeowners are now on forbearance plans [2] . These numbers represent the...
Read more ›
Deep Dive – Moody’s Recent RMBS Rating Action

Deep Dive – Moody’s Recent RMBS Rating Action

Christine Brunie
Senior Advisor
On April 15, 2020 Moody’s placed 404 classes (bond) of legacy US RMBS on review for downgrade, and downgraded and placed on review for further downgrade 48 classes for a total of 441 classes impacted. The 48 downgrades ranged from 1 to 4 notches. All the classes downgraded are now rated Baa3, the...
Read more ›
Peace of Mind - Collaborating with Microsoft Teams

Peace of Mind - Collaborating with Microsoft Teams

Mary Pat Denney
Managing Director, Resource Solutions
Is Microsoft Teams on your radar? Some of our large financial services clients are rolling it out, and the consulting vertical I lead (Resource Solutions) at The Oakleaf Group has just piloted Teams. Our greatest benefit thus far (5 weeks in) is peace of mind. Yes, we are saving time, delivering...
Read more ›

Investment Opportunities in select Senior Most Subordinate (M1) RMBS from 2005-2007 Vintage

Amit Shrivastava
Manager, Modeling & Analytics
Oakleaf’s Modeling & Analytics group recently reviewed the survival rate of the M-1 bonds supported by various types of RMBS underlying collateral issued during the 2005 to 2007 timeframe. A significant number of M1s are acting like options which are just out of money and are poised to...
Read more ›

Wells Fargo agreed to a Settlement with Several Groups of Institutional Investors in November 2018 – The Date to be Excluded from this Settlement is April 15, 2019

Christine Brunie
Senior Advisor
This settlement involves two class action lawsuits relating to Wells Fargo’s role as trustee for residential mortgage-backed securities issued pre-crisis. According to the Notice of Pendency of Class Action the settlement relates to 271 residential mortgage-backed securities trusts held or acquired...
Read more ›

Optional Call and Redemption Process for Non-Agency RMBS

Christine Brunie
Senior Advisor
A review of a large sample of non-agency RMBS transactions, which are backed by varying types of collateral, revealed that optional call eligibility varied depending upon the type and vintage of underlying collateral. Based on the review sample, the trusts, backed by subprime collateral, are the...
Read more ›
Trustee Bond Administration Quality Varies Significantly

Trustee Bond Administration Quality Varies Significantly

Christine Brunie
Senior Advisor
Under my direction, the Modeling and Analytics division of Oakleaf Group aggregates published loan level data for RMBS transactions and checks the “waterfall” cash allocation rules that apply to each trust. We have reconciled hundreds of trusts over thousands of remittance months administrated by...
Read more ›
Five Big Challenges of Servicing Modified Adjustable Rate Mortgages

Five Big Challenges of Servicing Modified Adjustable Rate Mortgages

Oakleaf has been performing audits on modified ARM and HELOC portfolios for over a decade. We have been seeing a higher incidence of problems associated with servicer books. Below are five of the biggest challenges that are currently trending: People are creative . In an apparent rush to add value...
Read more ›
Resourcing for Initiatives

Resourcing for Initiatives

Mary Pat Denney
Managing Director, Resource Solutions
Now that you have received funding approval for your multi-year, cross-department corporate initiative, the clock is ticking. Large transformation projects typically involve data migration, systems changes, additional hands-on-deck and new skill sets. Business areas tend to lead these projects, and...
Read more ›
Oakleaf's Analytics Execution Framework

Oakleaf's Analytics Execution Framework

Chris Milner
Founder, CEO and President
Oakleaf Group brings to our clients our proprietary Analytics Execution Framework, developed over the last decade to optimize analytic business processes at financial institutions and regulators. The execution framework ties together all necessary components to execute analytic processes in an efficient and controlled manner
Oakleaf Group Analytics Execution Framework Process Oakleaf Group brings to our clients our proprietary Analytics Execution Framework, developed over the last decade to optimize analytic business processes at financial institutions and regulators. The execution framework ties together all necessary...
Read more ›
Reg AB II: Shelf Offerings Disclosure – Does More Data Yield a Clearer Picture of RMBS or PLS Markets a Year After New Regulations?

Reg AB II: Shelf Offerings Disclosure – Does More Data Yield a Clearer Picture of RMBS or PLS Markets a Year After New Regulations?

On August 27, 2014, the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted the final version of revisions to its Regulation AB, in so-called Reg AB II. With a tiered effective date of November 23, 2015 for new Forms 10-D and 10-K, and a more granular loan-level disclosure schedule (in xml format) due after...
Read more ›
Oakleaf President & CEO Chris Milner's Inaugural Blog

Oakleaf President & CEO Chris Milner's Inaugural Blog

Chris Milner
Founder, CEO and President
I have heretofore avoided blogging in a way that I hope is natural to someone of my generation. I grew up when computing was still a novelty, and though I personally enjoy all the new gadgets that technology is making available, I have stopped short of Instagramming and Twitter. And blogging… until...
Read more ›
Impact of CECL on Bank Capital and Earnings

Impact of CECL on Bank Capital and Earnings

Chris Milner
Founder, CEO and President
There has been much focus (and rightly so) on modeling of the loan loss reserve under the new CECL standard. Less attention has been paid to the impact from CECL on a bank’s capital and earnings.
There has been much focus (and rightly so) on modeling of the loan loss reserve under the new CECL standard. Less attention has been paid to the impact from CECL on a bank’s capital and earnings. Many banks are in the process of preparing their 3-year strategic plans at this time and they would be...
Read more ›
Appeal denied to overturn $839 million RMBS award

Appeal denied to overturn $839 million RMBS award

Christine Brunie
Senior Advisor
Plaintiff’s win – Defendants Nomura and RBS tried unsuccessfully on appeal to prove the mortgage / bond losses were attributable to the broader financial crisis in 2008.
As a leading provider of litigation services, Oakleaf follows the securities litigation industry very closely. To support our clients in this arena we provide modeling expertise, loan file underwriting, data analytics and testifying expertise. Below we have summarized a recent ruling that is particularly pertinent to that work: an appeal decision for the first mortgage-backed security fraud case which originally went to trial in 2015.
Read more ›