The FHA will soon begin implementing system enhancements to the Electronic Appraisal Delivery (EAD) portal to improve its functionality further and to address user feedback. Use of the EAD portal becomes mandatory on June 27, 2016, when appraisers will begin to submit their appraisals electronically to FHA, reducing the time for processing and closing an FHA-insured loan. The FHA will implement the changes on March 14. First, reference to the six-digit alphanumeric “one-time key” used by a mortgagee’s designated EAD administrator to log into the EAD portal will be changed to “appraisal portal one-time key.” References to the key will be revised throughout the EAD portal screens and system-generated messages. The appraisal portal’s one-time key is generated in FHA Connection and is the last step in the initial EAD login process. In addition, users will be given a ...
The FHA’s Home Equity Reverse Mortgage Information Technology (HERMIT) system will shift to a new vendor-operated host data center beginning March 21, 2016. Reverse Market Insight (RMI), a provider of data, analysis and portfolio valuation services for the reverse mortgage industry, has been tapped to manage, maintain and operate HERMIT. Launched in October 2012, HERMIT is an online, web-based automated system that monitors and tracks the FHA’s Home Equity Conversion Mortgage portfolio and automates insurance claim payments. HERMIT will shut down temporarily from 7 p.m., March 16, to 8 a.m., March 21, in order to complete the transition. The FHA said there would be no changes to the system’s functionality during transition to the host data center. User IDs and passwords for accessing HERMIT will remain unchanged. Following HERMIT’s transition to the ...
The supply of “conforming-jumbo” mortgage originations flowing into agency mortgage-backed securities programs contracted sharply in the fourth quarter of 2015, but overall jumbo lending still held up better than the overall market, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis. During the final three months of 2015, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae securitized $24.69 billion of mortgages with loan amounts that exceeded the baseline conforming loan limit, $417,000… [Includes three charts]
If Freddie Mac needs a cash draw from the U.S. Treasury this year because of hedging losses, the Treasury Department could avoid tapping taxpayer funds by changing the quarterly sweep of the government-sponsored enterprise’s profits to an annual payment. That way, cash could stay on the books of a GSE longer and could be tapped in the event of a loss. At least that’s the legal theory being kicked around by several industry officials – including trade group representatives – who fear the political ramifications of a GSE needing Treasury assistance. To change the quarterly earnings sweep, the Federal Housing Finance Agency in conjunction with Treasury would have to change the terms of the conservatorships by altering the preferred stock...
A recent federal appeals court ruling that held Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are private companies under the False Claims Act, and not government agencies, has stoked speculation about what it means for shareholder lawsuits challenging the Treasury Department’s net-worth sweep of capital from the two government-sponsored enterprises. On Feb. 22, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that claims cannot be brought against the GSEs under the False Claims Act because they are private companies. In United States ex rel. Adams v. Aurora Loan Services, Inc., et al., the government alleged FCA claims against a handful of lenders because of erroneous representations and warranties, similar to a number of FCA lawsuits successfully...
The independent dispute-resolution option recently announced by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was billed as the last step in the three-year effort to re-duce seller buybacks, but the govern-ment-sponsored enterprises have a new project in the works. The GSEs are working on a “com-plementary effort to assess the possibility of granting appraisal-related representation-and-warranty relief shortly after acquiring a loan,” the Federal Housing Finance Agency revealed in its recent progress report on the GSEs. Fannie and Freddie last year rolled out new tools to help lenders assess appraisal quality...
Radian Guaranty became the latest private mortgage insurer to announce proposed changes to its premium rate card as it followed the rest of the industry in moving more towards risk-based pricing. Radian’s announcement brings to six the number of private MIs that have updated rate cards to align with the new capital requirements under the government-sponsored enterprises’ Private Mortgage Insurer Eligibility Requirements (PMIERs) that were implemented in January 2016. United Guaranty has yet to make an announcement, and a spokesman declined to comment.Some MIs have opted for earlier effective dates for the new pricing, while others have decided on either April 4 or April 7, 2016, as their effective date.
PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust recently entered into its third front-end risk-sharing trans-action with Fannie Mae. The real estate investment trust said it has seen strong returns from such deals, potentially paving the way for other lenders to directly share credit risk with the government-sponsored enterprises. The third credit-risk transfer agreement between PennyMac and Fannie involves $5.0 billion in unpaid principal balance of mortgages acquired by the nonbank from correspondents. In a slide presen-tation, the REIT said it expects to invest $175.0 million as part of the CRT deal. PennyMac also recently completed deliveries into its second CRT transaction with Fannie. The agreement involved mortgages with an unpaid principal balance of $4.25 billion and a $149 million in-vestment by the REIT.
Long-time mortgage veteran Julie Vore, now an originations analyst in the mortgage markets team, research, markets and regulations division at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, recently answered more industry questions about the integrated disclosure rule known as TRID. Speaking during a webinar sponsored by American Mortgage Law Group and The Mortgage Collaborative, Vore elaborated on the most recent TRID-related guidance released by the bureau, a two-page fact sheet on the disclosure of construction and construction-to-permanent loans. “I recently was involved with a group of lenders, and there was heated debate in the construction realm as to whether the best way to disclose a single closed construction loan is with one loan estimate and closing disclosure or with...
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