For lenders that contribute at least 15 percent of the loans included in an issuance, Fitch said it will conduct an enhanced operational review of the lender’s origination program and underwriting guidelines.
Two months after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s ability-to-repay requirements took effect, non-agency lenders seem to have adjusted to the rule. The debt-to-income ratio requirements for qualified mortgages do not appear to have prevented many borrowers from obtaining a mortgage and lenders have adjusted their documentation requirements. “To my knowledge we haven’t lost any sales because people didn’t qualify under the QM banner,” said ...
Credit Suisse teamed with New Penn Financial to issue another jumbo mortgage-backed security at the end of February, the latest in a unique partnership. The $297.36 million issuance received a AAA rating with credit enhancement of 8.85 percent for the top-rated tranche. Some 13 lenders contributed to the deal, with 74.2 percent of the mortgages originated or acquired by New Penn, according to a final rating report by DBRS (no presale reports were issued). Standard & Poor’s ...
The Structured Finance Industry Group this week requested a 60-day extension of the comment period for revisions to Regulation AB proposed by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC re-proposed part of its so-called Reg. AB2 rule on Feb. 25 and comments are currently due March 28. Richard Johns, the SFIG’s executive director, said the SEC’s proposed approach for disclosures on non-agency mortgage-backed securities is largely ... [Includes four briefs]
The Collingwood Group Snags Former Senior VA Executive.Keith Pedigo, former national director of the VA Home Loan Guaranty Program, has joined The Collingwood Group, a business advisory firm based in Washington, DC. Pedigo served as head of the VA program for 21 years. Standardized Multifamily FHA Mortgage Insurance Applications. The Department of Housing and Urban Development has updated its lender application templates for mortgage insurance under the FHA’s multifamily housing program. The following standardized documents are being implemented: Underwriter Narrative; Application Checklist and FHA Summary ...
The Department of Housing and Urban Development has completed modifications to its Home Equity Reverse Mortgage Information Technology (HERMIT) system to accommodate new premium structures and initial disbursement limits that were implemented last September. Launched in October 2012, HERMIT is HUD’s online-web-based automated system for monitoring and tracking its Home Equity Conversion Mortgage portfolio, collecting mortgage insurance premiums (MIP) and paying insurance claims. Lenders also access HERMIT to notify HUD of a borrower’s death and the initiation of foreclosure. While HUD had already modified FHA Connection and released an updated version of the HECM calculation software to accommodate the latest modifications, changes to the HERMIT system were delayed until now. HUD instructs FHA lenders to follow the mapping instructions for borrowers’ mandatory obligations in HERMIT to ...
Legislation seeking a recalculation of the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s loan limits for 2014 was introduced this week in the House of Representatives. Authored by Rep. Gary Miller, R-CA, H.R. 4208 (The Stabilizing FHA Loan Limit Calculation Act of 2014), would address credit availability problems caused by the statutory change in the way FHA loan limits are calculated and by revised median housing prices. More than 650 counties throughout the country saw their median house prices drop, some by as much as 20 percent to 50 percent, because of the 2014 calculation. Approximately 93 percent of California’s housing market or 54 counties have experienced severe declines in their FHA loan limits in 2014. For example, in Miller’s Riverside-San-Bernardino-Ontario district, the median price for a one-unit property fell from $500,000 in 2013 to $355,350 in 2014 – a 30 percent difference. In 2013, an estimated 8,000 home sales with ...
The FHA’s effort to shrink its presence in the mortgage insurance market to make room for private capital has benefited the private mortgage insurance industry, which has reclaimed some market share from its main government rival. This acknowledgement by private mortgage insurers during this week’s launch of a new MI industry trade association helped clarify the question of whether market stabilization or the FHA’s deliberate effort to reduce its participation in the market drove MI growth over the past three years. “If you think back, the FHA has been very vocal, particularly [Department of Housing and Urban Development] Secretary Shaun Donovan, about wanting to rebalance private MI participation in the market,” said Teresa Bryce Bazemore, president of Radian Guaranty and a member of the board of directors of the new trade group, U.S. Mortgage Insurers. “We saw our share of the market grow by more than 11 percent in 2013, and I think that is a ...
The Chinese Year of the Horse welcomed the FHA with a hard kick in the head as total originations fell 20 percent in January from December 2013. Even as rising interest rates slowed refinancing activity last year, the expected increase in purchase-mortgage lending barely materialized and, in fact, appears to be dropping off. Lenders reported $8.7 billion in new originations in January, down from $10.9 billion in December and $23.7 billion from a year ago. Most were fixed-rate mortgages and 77.1 percent were purchase transactions. Three of the top five FHA lenders – Quicken Loans, JPMorgan Chase and LoanDepot – reported purchase origination totals below 40 percent. Top-ranked Wells Fargo and Bank of America each reported 64.0 percent of total FHA originations as purchase transactions. Wells Fargo closed the month with $519.0 million despite a ... [2 charts]
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