Attorneys with the Ballard Spahr law firm noted that, “If the DOJ gets its way, the CFPB would remain intact with a director that President Trump can replace at any time.”
Production of Home Equity Conversion Mortgage loans was down in 2016 with an estimated $14.9 billion originated last year, compared to $16.0 billion the previous year. Year-over-year, total HECM volume fell 6.4 percent. Purchase loans accounted for 85.9 percent of FHA-insured reverse mortgages produced over the 12-month period. Originations, however, rose by 8.0 percent in the fourth quarter from the previous quarter due to a spike in HECM lending in December. Purchase HECMs with an adjustable rate appeared to be the product of choice among HECM borrowers in 2016. American Advisors Group continued to dominate the market, closing 2016 with $2.1 billion in HECM originations for a 14.0 percent market share. One Reverse Mortgage was the second top HECM producer of the year with $855 million, while Reverse Mortgage Funding was in third place with $649.8 million. Liberty Home Equity Solutions hung on ... [ 1 chart ]
Approximately $18.8 billion in rural housing loans with a U.S. Department of Agriculture guarantee were delivered into Ginnie Mae pools in 2016, according to an analysis of Ginnie data. Securitization of USDA loans was up 3.9 percent from the previous year. Fourth quarter production, however, was off 10.3 percent from the prior quarter, slowing down production of USDA loans during the period. Ditech Financial, which ranked 15th among the top Ginnie Mae issuers of mortgage-backed securities backed by USDA loans, ended 2016 with $284.9 million. That was up a staggering 4712.9 percent from 2015. Chase Home Finance led the market with $3.6 billion in 2016, despite hefty declines quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year. Second-ranked PennyMac closed the year with a total volume of $2.1 billion, while Freedom Mortgage, in third place, reported $2.0 billion, a whopping ... [ 1 chart ]
Correspondent mortgage originators account for an unusually large share of FHA and VA lending, but the channel lost some market share in 2016, according to a new analysis by Inside FHA/VA Lending. Correspondent production accounted for 53.2 percent of the $275.14 billion of government-insured mortgages originated by a diverse group of lenders that included the top players in the market. That was a significantly bigger correspondent share than was seen in the conventional-conforming market (42.6 percent) or the jumbo space (16.2 percent). However, the 2016 figure was down from a 57.8 percent correspondent share of FHA/VA lending back in 2015, the first year for which data are available. Correspondent originations of government-insured lending by the group were up 31.1 percent from 2015, but their total FHA/VA lending jumped 42.3 percent. The retail share rose ... [ 1 chart ]
HUD Secretary Ben Carson Launches National Listening Tour in Detroit. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson began a national listening tour March 15 at Benjamin Carson High School in Detroit. Carson’s three-day visit to his hometown gives him an opportunity to hear directly from HUD field personnel and stakeholders who rely upon and support public housing. This week, President Trump released his proposed preliminary FY 2018 budget, which showed among other things a drastic $6.2 billion reduction in funding for public housing assistance and affordable housing. HUD did not release an itinerary of Carson’s listening tour. IG Seeks Changes to Ginnie Mae’s Management Hierarchy, Staffing. Ginnie Mae’s outdated organizational structure and staff levels have made it difficult for the agency to properly monitor and mitigate the risk posed by the increasing number of nonbanks participating in ...
Security National Mortgage Co. of Salt Lake City has paid $4.25 million to the Department of Housing and Urban Development to settle allegations of failing to comply with FHA loan requirements. Security National, a retail lender, has been an FHA-approved direct endorsement lender since October 1993, the year it was founded. The settlement resolves a joint civil investigation by the HUD Office of the Inspector General, Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey into Security National’s FHA origination and underwriting practices in connection with 100 FHA-insured loans. As part of the settlement, the lender “agreed it engaged in certain conduct in connection with its origination and underwriting of the loans.” The HUD OIG provided no details about the investigation. The OIG said the loans that were certified as compliant would not have been insured had ...
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has offered Senate lawmakers some recommendations to improve the effectiveness of the National Flood Insurance Program as Congress considers reauthorization, including increasing mortgage borrowers’ access to private flood insurance. Testifying this week during a Senate hearing, Roy Wright, deputy associate administrator of the Federal Insurance and Mitigation Administration, urged the Senate Committee on Banking and Urban Affairs to reauthorize the NFIP before it expires on Sept. 30, 2017, and to extend it for multiple years. FIMA directs FEMA’s risk management, mitigation and flood-insurance programs. The stability of the real estate and mortgage markets depend on an “on-time, multi-year reauthorization,” said Wright. “All federally-backed mortgage lenders are required to verify that properties in special flood-hazard areas (SFHA) have ...
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