The Department of Veterans Affairs is seeking volunteers to test its redesigned servicing platform, the first phase of the agency’s ambitious plan to convert the platform into a fully automated end-to-end, integrated mortgage origination and servicing system. The VA has reached out to servicers connected to its VA Loan Electronic Reporting Interface (VALERI) to participate in the testing and transition process. The plan is to convert VALERI, which allows servicers to upload servicing data, ultimately into a complete automated underwriting and loan origination system. The system conversion effort aims to integrate all business lines, including loan origination, property valuations and mortgage servicing to improve performance of the VA loan program to increase usage by veterans and provide better customer service. It also aims to bring more transparency to the VA loan process and holding underwriters, originators and ...
The majority of active servicemembers and a significant share of veterans obtained zero downpayment mortgages when purchasing a home, compared to 7 percent of non-military, according to a National Association of Realtors’ 2018 survey of recent active-service, veteran and non-military homebuyers. The 2018 Veterans and Active Military Home Buyers Profile found stark differences among the survey participants’ choice of the location of homes they bought, household composition, size of home and reason to move in the future. In terms of the property location, 31 percent of active-duty service members moved to a different region, compared to 20 percent of veterans and 16 percent of non-military. Approximately 25 percent of active-duty military preferred to move within the same region as did 17 percent of vets and 12 percent of non-military. In addition, the survey found a large percentage of ...
California continued to lead all states in FHA and VA mortgage securitization in the first three months of 2018. The Golden State accounted for 15.3 percent of the $50.6 billion of FHA loans delivered into Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities in the first quarter. FHA loans comprised 18.2 percent of loans securitized by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae, and 34.6 percent of agency-securitized loans with primary mortgage insurance. About 66.6 percent of FHA loans securitized during the period were for purchase mortgages while refinance loans accounted for 27.5 percent. The average loan-to-value ratio of FHA loans in Ginnie pools was 93.0 percent. The average credit score of 668.2 reflected FHA’s traditional base of lower-income and first-time homebuyers, with an average debt-to-income ratio of 42.4 percent. The other states among the top five in terms of FHA deliveries into Ginnie pools were ... [Chart]
New York has enacted legislation redefining a reverse mortgage as a “home loan.” With the new law, statutory 90-day pre-foreclosure notices and certificates of merit would be required for all reverse-mortgage foreclosures in the Empire State. New York’s foreclosure settlement conference law has incorporated the new definition by reference, removing any doubt that such meetings are required in most reverse-mortgage cases, said industry attorneys. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, D, signed the amendment into law on April 12, 2018, though it is deemed to have been in full force and effect as of April 20, 2017. However, the pre-foreclosure notice requirement for reverse mortgages has an effective date of May 12, 2018. For actions commenced after May 12, the new state law requires lenders, servicers or assignees to provide a pre-foreclosure notice at least 90 days before initiating legal action against the borrower at the ...
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac issued a record $4.53 billion of new credit-risk transfer debt notes during the first quarter of 2018, according to an Inside MBS & ABS analysis. [Includes one data chart.]
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac don’t act like two companies in their 10th year of government conservatorship, waiting for federal policymakers to figure out what to do with them.
The tailored Dodd-Frank reform bill signed into law by President Trump this month should be a boon to investors in Ginnie Mae securities because it will reduce loan churning, but there could be some bumps along the road until all the details are ironed out.
In what is largely an intellectual exercise, Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt said last week that the agency will propose a new risk-based capital rule for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac even though it won’t apply while they’re in conservatorship.
CFPB’s Mick Mulvaney: “Today, after an exhaustive review by outside experts, including a comprehensive ‘white-hat hacking’ effort, we can lift that hold.”