The Department of Housing and Urban Development is investigating reports that a loan officer of an approved FHA lender had participated in a reverse mortgage borrower’s counseling session, a practice HUD frowns upon but does not directly prohibit. A HUD representative declined to provide details but acknowledged that the report was part of informal discussions between department officials and stakeholders. “That information … has not been officially released in any form,” he said. “Once the details are finalized, we will be advising stakeholders.” The National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association posted the ...

The Department of Veterans Affairs has announced new security measures to ensure that only authorized lenders and servicers have access to mortgage-related data. Guidance issued earlier this month establishes new security procedures for resetting users’ PIN numbers and validating their identities. Users must be validated as an employee of the lender/servicer that seeks access to the VA’s Veteran Information Portal (VIP). The VA will provide each approved lender/servicer with a list of previous users for validation. Upon completion of the validation, the list must be ...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has sweetened the pot to encourage more investors to participate in an FHA program for disposing of real estate-owned properties to ease HUD’s housing inventory. HUD announced it is raising the discount for REO properties under its First Look Sales Method to 15 percent from 10 percent. Properties include those that do not meet the standards for FHA insurance. The special program was launched in 2010 to give preference to eligible purchasers under the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) to ...

Some FHA lenders are seeing new opportunities in the distressed property market as they offer new or expand on existing 203(k) rehabilitation mortgage insurance products. Houston-based Envoy Mortgage, a full-service mortgage banker with retail branches across the country, has broadened its FHA 203(k) product line to include a full 203(k) option. The option allows borrowers to devote more funds for repair and renovation, which are rolled into the mortgage amount. The full 203(k) option is a step up from what Envoy is already offering – a “streamline” 203(k) program designed for borrowers that have ...

Rule for Selling Government Mortgages to Fannie Mae Updated. Eligibility for delivery of mortgage loans backed by FHA, VA and the Department of Agriculture is now available on a negotiated basis only, Fannie Mae announced in a recent update to its Selling Guide (Announcement SEL-2013-01). The change is effective for all government loans, including whole loans sold to Fannie on or after May 1, 2013, and government loans in mortgage-backed securities with issue dates on or after May 1. Genworth to Delink Struggling Mortgage Insurance Operations from Holding Company. Genworth Financial plans to ...

In the end, there were no earth-shattering surprises in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s final rule on mortgage originator qualification and compensation, but the residential finance industry isn’t quite done digesting the myriad details of the 541-page regulation, which goes into effect a year from now. Among many things, the rule codifies the difference between bank and nonbank loan officers, requiring the latter to get tested on a regular basis, a distinction that does not sit well with certain factions of the mortgage banking and brokerage industries. “The point is...

The mortgage servicing industry is continuing to sift through the massive new mortgage servicing final rulemaking issued last week by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. But one week into the review process, it seems clear that the cost of compliance and any strategic advantage between players is going to vary company to company, based less on size of the entity and more on the degree to which servicers have read the tea leaves ahead of time and started to prepare. “The reality is that there is lots of work to be done as an industry, regardless of your size or your portfolio mix,” said Michael Waldron, a partner and practice leader of the mortgage banking unit at the Ballard Spahr law firm. On the heels of the recent settlement of top bank servicing obligations under the consent orders related to robosigning practices, there has been...

It may be too early to declare an end to the cycle of servicers marking down the value of their mortgage servicing rights, but a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis suggests that some large banks began raising their valuations in the fourth quarter. Across the board, all of the nation’s top five servicers – Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, and U.S. Bancorp – increased the asset value of their MSRs in the fourth quarter of 2012, even though none of them reported significant growth in the unpaid principal balance of home loans serviced for other investors. Wells Fargo, the nation’s largest servicer with a market share of almost 19 percent, saw...[Includes one data chart]

Industry participants have mixed views on the outlook for joint ventures between lenders and real estate agents and homebuilders. Wells Fargo ended a significant number of its joint ventures in the second half of 2012, citing regulatory concerns, while just this week KB Home and Nationstar formed a mortgage company, suggesting the joint venture model is not exactly finished. In previous years, Wells had hundreds of joint ventures with Realtors but the lender said it dissolved most of them in the second half of 2012. “After careful analysis of market conditions and the impact of the regulatory environment on the business, Wells Fargo decided to dissolve several of its joint venture alliances,” a Wells spokesman said, noting that the lender would not comment on specific numbers for privacy reasons. Wells noted that it will not completely abandon...

Stringent appraisals have hindered home sales, limiting purchase-mortgage originations and constraining home prices, according to real estate agents responding to the latest Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey. Appraisers counter that they are accurately pricing homes and cite burdensome regulations along with new requirements from lenders trying to avoid buybacks. In certain circumstances, appraised home prices have been set well below listing price, frustrating sellers that have received multiple offers. “Appraisals continue to cause problems as the market is trying to recover value, but tight appraiser guidelines are not keeping up with the agreed sales prices between buyers and sellers,” according to a real estate agent in Michigan. The sales-to-list price ratio has trended...