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
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 make and have 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. 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 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, 2017 and 2016. 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 originated primarily between 2004 and 2008. For more information, see Private-label Securitizations and Whole-loan Sales Experience in this Note and Note 12 – Commitments and Contingencies.
During 2017, the Corporation received $151 million in new repurchase claims and $794 million in claims were resolved, including $640 million related to settlements. 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 a sponsor of third-party securitizations with whom the Corporation engaged in whole-loan transactions indicating that the Corporation may have indemnity obligations with respect to specific loans for which the Corporation has not received a repurchase request. These notifications were received prior to 2015, and totaled $1.3 billion at both December 31, 2017 and 2016. During 2017, the Corporation reached agreements with certain parties requesting indemnity. One such agreement is subject to acceptance by a securitization trustee. The impact of these agreements is included in the provision and reserve for representations and warranties.
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 reserve for representations and warranties and the corresponding estimated range of possible loss.
Private-label Securitizations and Whole-loan Sales Experience
The notional amount of unresolved repurchase claims at December 31, 2017 and 2016 included $6.9 billion and $5.6 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 overall decrease in the notional amount of outstanding unresolved repurchase claims in 2017 was primarily due to claims that were resolved as a result of settlements. 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. 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.
Reserve and Estimated Range of Possible Loss
The reserve 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 reserve for representations and
warranties is established when those obligations are both probable and reasonably estimable.
The Corporation’s representations and warranties reserve and the corresponding estimated range of possible loss at December 31, 2017 consider, among other things, the repurchase experience implied in prior settlements, and uses the experience implied in those prior settlements in the assessment for those trusts where the Corporation has a continuing possibility of timely claims in order to determine the representations and warranties reserve and the corresponding estimated range of possible loss.
The table below presents a rollforward of the reserve for representations and warranties and corporate guarantees.
The representations and warranties reserve represents the Corporation’s best estimate of probable incurred losses as of December 31, 2017. 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 $1 billion over existing accruals at December 31, 2017. This estimate is lower than the estimate at December 31, 2016 due to recent reductions in risk as we reach settlements with counterparties. 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, including related indemnity claims. 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 reserve 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.
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