The Department of Veterans Affairs has called upon holders of VA-guaranteed single-family mortgage loans to extend forbearance to distressed homeowners affected by the severe storms and flooding in Louisiana and Texas. In recent guidance, the VA described measures VA lenders may employ to provide relief to disaster-stricken homeowners. The agency recommended careful counseling to see whether borrower difficulties are related to the storms or have been the result of other events. If appropriate, prepayments may be reapplied to cure or prevent a borrower default. Servicers also may consider loan modification without VA’s prior approval if certain regulatory conditions are met. Although the holder of the loan is ultimately responsible for determining when to initiate foreclosure or complete termination action, the VA has requested a 90-day freeze on ...

The California Reinvestment Coalition last week called upon the Department of Housing and Urban Development to impose a moratorium to prevent CIT Group and its servicing subsidiary, Financial Freedom, from initiating any more reverse mortgage foreclosures. The CRC’s request is based in part on data it obtained from HUD indicating an unusually high foreclosure rate for Financial Freedom/CIT Group.According to the data, Financial Freedom’s 39 percent share of reverse mortgage foreclosures since April 2009 is more than two times greater than the company’s estimated market share. The CRC began looking into Financial Freedom’s foreclosure history after receiving complaints from a number of widowed homeowners and other heirs about Freedom’s foreclosure practices, said Kevin Stein, CRC associate director. Stein said the CRC filed a data request under the ...

Although Fannie’s year-to-date issuance was off 8.4 percent from a year ago, it was still ahead of Ginnie through the first third of 2016.

Ron D’Vari, CEO of New Oak Capital, said borrower demand for non-QMs is strong, but there are a number of hurdles to issuing MBS with the loans.

Fannie’s guaranty fee income for single-family and multifamily segments nudged up 0.9 percent from the fourth quarter, while Freddie’s was up 0.4 percent.

PHH said in a new SEC filing: “We will not be pursuing our previously communicated acquisition strategy at this time..."

U.S. Bank was the only top-five servicer that has been growing its portfolio…

G-fees – which have been rising in recent years – are ultimately paid by borrowers.

The Association of Mortgage Professionals, which represents mortgage brokers, said it believes the measure will dilute states’ rights to protect consumers.

Two Harbors was the first – and thus far only – firm to issue a jumbo MBS with loans subject to the TRID mortgage disclosure rule.