The four surviving private MIs that are still writing new business after the wreckage of the hous-ing market collapse last week agreed to pay a relatively modest $15.40 million to settle a longstanding dispute over their arrangements with captive reinsurance entities sponsored by lenders. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau alleged that Genworth Financial, United Guaranty, Radian Guaranty and Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp. violated the Real Estate Settlement Proce-dures Act by paying illegal kickbacks – in the form of reinsurance premiums – to get business from mortgage lenders. “The payments made as supposed ‘reinsurance’ premiums did not correspond to a proportionate transfer of insurance risk between the parties,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. An Inside Mortgage Finance analysis of MI regulatory filings suggests...
The FHA may need to draw $943 million from the U.S. Treasury to reserve for further unexpected losses in the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund, according to estimates in the Obama administration’s fiscal 2014 budget proposal released this week. That is a bit of good news, despite Congress’ continuing concern about the FHA. Last year, an independent actuarial audit found a projected $16.3 billion shortfall in the MMIF as of the end of fiscal 2012. The audit also revealed that capital reserves for unexpected losses had fallen to negative 1.44 percent. Technically, the FHA has...
There’s a growing interest on the part of new investors in buying residential mortgage servicing rights, but observers say a major impediment for the market is a lack of confidence that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will acknowledge their ownership rights. “It’s a problem,” said Tom Piercy, managing member of Interactive Mortgage Advisors, a servicing brokerage and advisory firm. “Fannie and Freddie could learn a thing or two from Ginnie.” The phrase “new investors” generally applies...
Fannie Mae’s plan to unload potentially billions of dollars’ worth of non-performing loans has been delayed and may even be scuttled, according to industry officials tracking the project. Fannie has been working on an NPL sale for close to a year, and has even hired an investment banker, Milestone Advisors LLC, to guide it through the auction process. Initially, it had hoped to offer a package of $250 million of delinquent home mortgages for sale to the highest bidder. Although the government-sponsored enterprise would not comment...
Industry groups are urging Congress and the FHA to consider incorporating risk-sharing into the agency’s business model while appearing leery of other proposals, such as risk-based pricing and reduced FHA coverage. Testifying at a hearing before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance, the Mortgage Bankers Association and the National Association of Realtors said that while they do not support risk-sharing between FHA and private mortgage insurers, it is an option that is worth exploring in the context of FHA reform. There was...
Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks should devise contingency plans to address the potential meltdown of their various business partners, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The FHFA last week issued an advisory bulletin directing the government-sponsored enterprises to each come up with plans for managing their counterparty risk exposures. “The analysis to identify a high-risk or high-volume counterparty should include an assessment of whether the deterioration in the condition of the counterparty or an elimination or reduction in exposure could result in a material loss or significant disruption to operations,” explained the FHFA’s bulletin. The guidelines describe...
Consumer advocates are calling on the Obama administration to extend the Home Affordable Modification Program beyond the end of this year. While HAMP is far from meeting performance goals set by the administration, consumer advocates claim the program is favorable to proprietary loan modifications completed by servicers. “Extending the HAMP program for several years – or, at a minimum, for one year – would greatly assist the housing market in general and neighborhoods most affected by high foreclosure rates in particular by helping more homeowners avoid foreclosure,” 36 consumer groups, including the Center for Responsible Lending and the National Consumer Law Center, said in a recent letter to Jacob Lew, secretary of the Treasury Department. In January 2012, the Obama administration announced...
Two-thirds of the nearly 2,000 real estate agents that responded to a Campbell Communications and Inside Mortgage Finance survey want mortgage closings in 30 days or less.
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