Representations and Warranties Obligations and Corporate Guarantees |
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| Representations and Warranties Obligations and Corporate Guarantees [Abstract] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Representations and Warranties Obligations and Corporate Guarantees |
Representations and Warranties Obligations and Corporate Guarantees
Background
The Corporation securitizes first-lien residential mortgage loans generally in the form of RMBS guaranteed by the GSEs or by GNMA in the case of FHA-insured, VA-guaranteed and Rural Housing Service-guaranteed mortgage loans, and sells pools of first-lien residential mortgage loans in the form of whole loans. In addition, in prior years, legacy companies and certain subsidiaries sold pools of first-lien residential mortgage loans and home equity loans as private-label securitizations or in the form of whole loans. In connection with these transactions, the Corporation or certain of its subsidiaries or legacy companies made various representations and warranties. Breaches of these representations and warranties have resulted in and may continue to result in the requirement to repurchase mortgage loans or to otherwise make whole or provide other remedies to investors, securitization trusts, guarantors, insurers or other parties (collectively, repurchases).
Settlement Actions
The Corporation has vigorously contested any request for repurchase where it has concluded that a valid basis for repurchase does not exist and will continue to do so in the future. However, in an effort to resolve legacy mortgage-related issues, the Corporation has reached bulk settlements, certain of which have been for significant amounts, in lieu of a loan-by-loan review process, including settlements with the GSEs, four monoline insurers and Bank of New York Mellon (BNY Mellon), as trustee for certain securitization trusts. These bulk settlements generally did not cover all transactions with the relevant counterparties or all potential claims that may arise, including in some instances securities law, fraud, indemnification and servicing claims, which may be addressed separately. The Corporation’s liability in connection with the transactions and claims not covered by these settlements could be material to the Corporation’s results of operations or liquidity for any particular reporting period. The Corporation may reach other settlements in the future if opportunities arise on terms it believes to be advantageous. However, there can be no assurance that the Corporation will reach future settlements or, if it does, that the terms of past settlements can be relied upon to predict the terms of future settlements.
Unresolved Repurchase Claims
Unresolved representations and warranties repurchase claims represent the notional amount of repurchase claims made by counterparties, typically the outstanding principal balance or the unpaid principal balance at the time of default. In the case of first-lien mortgages, the claim amount is often significantly greater than the expected loss amount due to the benefit of collateral and, in some cases, mortgage insurance (MI) or mortgage guarantee payments. Claims received from a counterparty remain outstanding until the underlying loan is repurchased, the claim is rescinded by the counterparty, the Corporation determines that the applicable statute of limitations has expired, or representations and warranties claims with respect to the applicable trust are settled, and fully and finally released. The Corporation does not include duplicate claims in the amounts disclosed.
The table below presents unresolved repurchase claims at December 31, 2016 and 2015. The unresolved repurchase claims include only claims where the Corporation believes that the counterparty has the contractual right to submit claims. The unresolved repurchase claims predominantly relate to subprime and pay option first-lien loans and home equity loans. For additional information, see Private-label Securitizations and Whole-loan Sales Experience in this Note and Note 12 – Commitments and Contingencies.
During 2016, the Corporation received $647 million in new repurchase claims, including $440 million of claims that are deemed time-barred. During 2016, $734 million in claims were resolved, including $477 million that are deemed time-barred. Of the remaining unresolved monoline claims, substantially all of the claims pertain to second-lien loans and are currently the subject of litigation with a single monoline insurer. There may be additional claims or file requests in the future.
In addition to the unresolved repurchase claims in the Unresolved Repurchase Claims by Counterparty, net of duplicate claims table, the Corporation has received notifications from sponsors of third-party securitizations with whom the Corporation engaged in whole-loan transactions indicating that the Corporation may have indemnity obligations with respect to loans for which the Corporation has not received a repurchase request. These outstanding notifications totaled $1.3 billion and $1.4 billion at December 31, 2016 and 2015.
The presence of repurchase claims on a given trust, receipt of notices of indemnification obligations and receipt of other communications, as discussed above, are all factors that inform the Corporation’s liability for representations and warranties and the corresponding estimated range of possible loss.
Private-label Securitizations and Whole-loan Sales Experience
Prior to 2009, legacy companies and certain subsidiaries sold pools of first-lien residential mortgage loans and home equity loans as private-label securitizations or in the form of whole loans. In connection with these transactions, the Corporation or certain of its subsidiaries or legacy companies made various representations and warranties. When the Corporation provided representations and warranties in connection with the sale of whole loans, the whole-loan investors may retain the right to make repurchase claims even when the loans were aggregated with other collateral into private-label securitizations sponsored by the whole-loan investors. In other third-party securitizations, the whole-loan investors’ rights to enforce the representations and warranties were transferred to the securitization trustees. Private-label securitization investors generally do not have the contractual right to demand repurchase of loans directly or the right to access loan files directly.
At December 31, 2016 and 2015, for loans originated between 2004 and 2008, the notional amount of unresolved repurchase claims submitted by private-label securitization trustees, whole-loan investors, including third-party securitization sponsors, and others was $16.6 billion and $16.7 billion. The notional amount of unresolved repurchase claims at December 31, 2016 and 2015 includes $5.6 billion and $3.5 billion of claims related to loans in specific private-label securitization groups or tranches where the Corporation owns substantially all of the outstanding securities or will otherwise realize the benefit of any repurchase claims paid.
The notional amount of outstanding unresolved repurchase claims remained relatively unchanged in 2016 compared to 2015. Outstanding repurchase claims remained unresolved primarily due to (1) the level of detail, support and analysis accompanying such claims, which impact overall claim quality and, therefore, claims resolution, and (2) the lack of an established process to resolve disputes related to these claims.
The Corporation reviews properly presented repurchase claims on a loan-by-loan basis. For time-barred claims, the counterparty is informed that the claim is denied on the basis of the statute of limitations and the claim is treated as resolved. For timely claims, if the Corporation, after review, does not believe a claim is valid, it will deny the claim and generally indicate a reason for the denial. If the counterparty agrees with the Corporation's denial of the claim, the counterparty may rescind the claim. If there is a disagreement as to the resolution of the claim, meaningful dialogue and negotiation between the parties are generally necessary to reach a resolution on an individual claim. When a claim is denied and the Corporation does not hear from the counterparty for six months, the Corporation views the claim as inactive; however, such claims remain in the outstanding claims balance until resolution. In the case of private-label securitization trustees and third-party sponsors, there is currently no established process in place for the parties to reach a conclusion on an individual loan if there is a disagreement on the resolution of the claim. The Corporation has performed an initial review with respect to substantially all outstanding claims and, although the Corporation does not believe a valid basis for repurchase has been established by the claimant, it considers such claims activity in the computation of its liability for representations and warranties.
Liability for Representations and Warranties and Corporate Guarantees and Estimated Range of Possible Loss
The liability for representations and warranties and corporate guarantees is included in accrued expenses and other liabilities on the Consolidated Balance Sheet and the related provision is included in mortgage banking income in the Consolidated Statement of Income. The liability for representations and warranties is established when those obligations are both probable and reasonably estimable.
The Corporation’s representations and warranties liability and the corresponding estimated range of possible loss at December 31, 2016 considers, among other things, the repurchase experience implied in the settlements with BNY Mellon and other counterparties. Since the securitization trusts that were included in the settlement with BNY Mellon differ from other securitization trusts where the possibility of timely claims exists, the Corporation adjusted the repurchase experience implied in the settlement in order to determine the representations and warranties liability and the corresponding estimated range of possible loss.
The table below presents a rollforward of the liability for representations and warranties and corporate guarantees.
The representations and warranties liability represents the Corporation’s best estimate of probable incurred losses as of December 31, 2016. However, it is reasonably possible that future representations and warranties losses may occur in excess of the amounts recorded for these exposures.
The Corporation currently estimates that the range of possible loss for representations and warranties exposures could be up to $2 billion over existing accruals at December 31, 2016. The Corporation treats claims that are time-barred as resolved and does not consider such claims in the estimated range of possible loss. The estimated range of possible loss reflects principally exposures related to loans in private-label securitization trusts. It represents a reasonably possible loss, but does not represent a probable loss, and is based on currently available information, significant judgment and a number of assumptions that are subject to change.
The liability for representations and warranties exposures and the corresponding estimated range of possible loss do not consider certain losses related to servicing, including foreclosure and related costs, fraud, indemnity, or claims (including for RMBS) related to securities law or monoline insurance litigation. Losses with respect to one or more of these matters could be material to the Corporation’s results of operations or liquidity for any particular reporting period.
Future provisions and/or ranges of possible loss for representations and warranties may be significantly impacted if actual experiences are different from the Corporation’s assumptions in predictive models, including, without limitation, the actual repurchase rates on loans in trusts not settled as part of the settlement with BNY Mellon which may be different than the implied repurchase experience, estimated MI rescission rates, economic conditions, estimated home prices, consumer and counterparty behavior, the applicable statute of limitations, potential indemnity obligations to third parties to whom the Corporation has sold loans subject to representations and warranties and a variety of other judgmental factors. Adverse developments with respect to one or more of the assumptions underlying the liability for representations and warranties and the corresponding estimated range of possible loss, such as investors or trustees successfully challenging or avoiding the application of the relevant statute of limitations, could result in significant increases to future provisions and/or the estimated range of possible loss.
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