The FHA has several measures in the regulatory pipeline primed for proposal and final action in the first half of 2016, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s semiannual regulatory agenda. The regulatory agenda, however, comes with a caveat: action dates and rulemaking timelines are tentative, depending on the urgency of the rule. HUD plans to propose a rule in February that would codify program changes over the past two years in the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage regulations. The updated HECM policies and requirements address financial assessments, property charges, lien seasoning, non-borrowing spouse certifications and deferral periods. Also included in the codification proposal are revised rules pertaining to partially funded life expectancy set-aside and servicing fee set-aside. In addition, the proposed rule would make several other changes to HECM origination and servicing to ...
The share of “unacceptable” ratings for defective FHA loans following a post-endorsement technical review has dropped from double- to single-digits in FY 2015 due to lenders’ mitigation efforts, according to the FHA’s latest loan-review results. FHA’s initial unacceptable rate has remained at 45 to 47 percent over the last four quarters, but lender submission of mitigating documentation has reduced that rate to 5 percent as of Oct. 31, 2015, the FHA report said. This means an overall mitigation rate of nearly 90 percent of the FHA-insured loan sample. The number of initially unacceptable findings and those findings subsequently mitigated are based on 6,415 FHA-insured mortgages that underwent post-endorsement technical reviews between April 1 and June 30, 2015. Of the total loans reviewed, 68.6 percent were purchase loans, 17.9 percent streamline refinance and ...
Joint civil fraud initiatives have resulted in $558.5 million in recoveries and receivables to the Department of Housing and Urban Development in FY 2015, according to the HUD inspector general’s semiannual report to Congress. The amount includes civil settlements of $212.5 million from First Tennessee Bank, $29.6 million from Reverse Mortgage Solutions, and $1.8 million from three other settlements. The settlements resolved enforcement actions brought by the Department of Justice on behalf of HUD in pursuit of civil remedies under a variety of statutes, including the False Claims Act, Program Fraud Civil Remedies Act, and the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act. Recoveries and receivables for other entities during the reporting period – April 1 to Sept. 30, 2015 – totaled $86.9 million and $268.2 million for the entire fiscal year. Some of the payments were made to the ...
State housing agencies have expressed support for a proposed rule change by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Housing Service that would expedite claim submission, but sought clarification on certain provisions. The proposed rule would amend the USDA’s current rules on liquidation-value appraisals under the agency’s Section 502 Single Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program. Currently, if a real estate-owned property remains unsold by the lender at the end of a prescribed marketing period, the RHS will order a liquidation value appraisal to estimate the cost of holding and disposing of the REO. However, several housing finance agencies have complained about the RHS’ lengthy claims process, which forces them and other lenders to keep unpaid claims on their books longer than necessary. “Such lengthy waiting periods can be particularly costly to HFAs and other ...
VA Servicer Reminders. The new maximum allowable foreclosure timeframes published in the Federal Register on Dec. 4, 2015, will be effective for all loan terminations completed on or after Jan. 3, 2016. In addition, the new Net Value percentage (15.95 percent) took effect on Dec. 23, 2015. All Notices of Value issued on or after Dec. 23, must be calculated using the new percentage. Meanwhile, pre-approval requests to deviate from a regulation must be submitted through VALERI (VA Loan Electronic Reporting Interface), the agency’s loan administration system. VA does not grant pre-approval on claim expenses or for additional time to foreclose. These items must be appealed ...
“Erosion of homeownership for blacks threatens to undermine their ability to gain and maintain economic stability, not to mention build assets,” said UI’s Rolf Pendall.
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