Adverse Market Refinance Fee Pours Cold Water On Refi Party

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) just poured cold water on the refi party with an Adverse Market Refinance Fee. Although rates may still be near record lows, come September 1st refinance mortgages will incur an additional 0.5% fee. Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be raising their fees for refinance mortgages as part of an effort to shore up capital reserve buffers. Apparently FHFA is worried about increasing risk of the GSEs loan portfolios. There are still close to 4 million American borrowers on mortgage forbearance programs. What happens when those programs end [...]