In response to a pandemic-induced spike in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage holders going into forbearance, the FHFA required those organizations to charge lenders a 50 basis point fee for any refinanced loans. That fee, of course, was passed on to borrowers.
The waiving of this fee is good news on two counts: it represents cost savings for lenders that will be passed along to borrowers, but it also means that the fee is no longer needed because many of the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac borrowers that were part of the spike are now out of mortgage forbearance.