Home Equity Loans

Browse articles from all of our Newsletters related to Home Equity Loans.

May 17, 2013 - Inside FHA Lending

Around the Industry

Regulation by Mortgagee Letter. The Department of Housing and Urban Development this week urged House lawmakers to grant it statutory authority to make temporary changes to the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage program through mortgagee letters while working to formalize the change through rulemaking. In a hearing before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance this week, Charles Coulter, HUD deputy assistant secretary for single-family housing, sought specific authority to limit the amount that may be drawn from ...


May 17, 2013 - Inside FHA Lending

Policy Change Could Put Loans in HPML Category

Changes to the FHA’s mortgage insurance premium cancellation policy, which take effect on June 3, could ultimately cause some FHA loans closed after the effective date to become a “higher-priced mortgage loan” that no investor would want to purchase, lenders warned. Eliminating the MIP cancellation and requiring insurance to be kept for the life of the mortgage loan will raise the annual percentage rate 150 basis points above the average prime offer rate (APOR) index. This will trigger a higher-priced mortgage loan (HPML) designation for some ...


May 3, 2013 - Inside FHA Lending

ASF Calls for Reduced FHA/GSE Loan Limits

Wall Street has unveiled policy proposals calling for premium and guaranty fee adjustments and reduced loan limits for FHA and the government-sponsored enterprises to jump start the return of private capital to the U.S. housing market. The American Securitization Forum said the current level of government activity in the mortgage market is neither sustainable nor advisable. The government, through FHA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, directly or indirectly guarantees 90 to 95 percent of new mortgage originations in the country, the trade association said. While everyone agrees the government’s role in housing should be reduced over the long term, there is ...


April 19, 2013 - Inside FHA Lending

GNMA Seeks Input on Future of Ginnie I & II

Ginnie Mae is seeking feedback from dealers, issuers and investors about whether to continue to maintain two separate mortgage-backed securities programs or to consolidate them under a single security. Comments are also being sought on other possible options. Bloomberg.com recently reported that Ginnie Mae sent out questionnaires to Wall Street broker-dealers for their input on the future of both the Ginnie Mae I and Ginnie Mae II MBS programs. The agency has been considering whether it should merge the programs for some time. The Ginnie Mae I single-issuer pool program with stringent pooling requirements began in ...


April 19, 2013 - Inside FHA Lending

HUD Reiterates Plea for Expanded HECM Power

Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan this week reiterated his agency’s request for additional legislative authority to regulate the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage program by mortgagee letter so that much-needed changes can be implemented immediately. Rather than go through the tedious legislative process of amending HECM legislation to improve the program and reduce HECM losses, expanding HUD’s authority would enable the department to undertake immediate reforms, such as restricting lump sum payments, requiring financial assessments of HECM applicants and requiring borrowers to ...


April 19, 2013 - Inside Nonconforming Markets

Home-Equity Loan Performance Improving

Performance on home-equity loans is improving, with industry participants optimistic about future performance. Bank and thrift holdings of HELs continue to decline, based on a new ranking and analysis from the Inside Mortgage Finance Bank Mortgage Database. Delinquencies on HELs fell to 4.03 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012 from 4.20 percent the previous quarter, according to the American Bankers Association. “We saw the first inkling of improvement for that sector,” said ... [Includes one data chart]


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What should be done to “reform” Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s position in the mortgage market?

Wind the two GSEs down as quickly as possible while setting up some new government guarantee program for conservatively underwritten conventional mortgages.
Let the two GSEs continue to funnel money to the Treasury while developing a plan to take them out of conservatorship as private companies.
Do nothing since the housing market is too dependent on the two GSEs and Congress is unlikely to agree on a major change in the status quo anytime soon.

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