Alarm Bells Ring over Refinance Mortgage Boom: Why Refis Are so Risky

The mortgage industry is in uproar over the surprise announcement by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the GSEs) Wednesday night that they would charge a 0.5% “adverse market refinance fee” on refinance mortgages that they buy – “a result of risk management and loss forecasting precipitated by COVID-19 related economic and market uncertainty,”...