Although the new rules for surviving spouses of borrowers with FHA-insured reverse mortgages address many of the issues raised by non-borrowing spouses, some questions remain unanswered, according to legal experts. The guidance in Mortgagee Letter 2015-03 provides insufficient answers to the issues it was meant to address, said Robert Couch, a partner with the Birmingham, AL, law firm of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings and former general counsel at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Servicers should take note of those issues and seek further clarification, he said. Issued on Jan. 29, the guidance provides a way for lenders to proceed after a borrower with a Home Equity Conversion Mortgage loan dies and is survived by a non-borrowing spouse. It allows a lender to assign to HUD HECMs that are in default due to the death of the borrower, as long as certain ...
HUD Announces Revised Implementation Date for HECM Financial Assessment Guidance. The Department of Housing and Urban Development further delayed the effective date of new guidance requiring a financial assessment of Home Equity Conversion Mortgage loan applicants. Issued in November last year, the new guidance becomes effective for HECM case numbers issued on or after April 27, 2015. The FHA said the change was due to a delay in efforts to align vendor software with HUD software to get the system up and running. Last month, HUD moved the guidance’s implementation date to March 2. The guidance requires lenders to evaluate borrowers’ willingness and capacity to meet their HECM obligations and to comply with program requirements. HUD Aligns QM Points-and-Fees Limit to Newly Recalculated CFPB Standards. The Department of Housing and Urban Development has aligned the points and fees limit under its qualified-mortgage rule to the ...
At Impac, Mangiaracina will split his time between the nonbank’s headquarters in Irvine, CA, and New York where the company has just opened a new satellite office.
Most mortgage lenders reported solid increases in refinance originations during the fourth quarter of 2014, but the faltering purchase-mortgage sector still accounted for most of their business. A new Inside Mortgage Finance ranking and analysis reveals that refinance originations increased by 16.9 percent from the third to the fourth quarter. Based on securitization figures from Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae, refi activity rose by a more modest 14.0 percent, although these data trail the primary market by one or two months. Meanwhile, purchase-mortgage originations were...[Includes five data charts]
The head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau held his ground this week against pressure from Republican and Democrat lawmakers to take it easy on mortgage lenders in enforcing the bureau’s integrated disclosure rule. During a hearing before the House Financial Services Committee, Reps. Randy Neugebauer, R-TX, and Brad Sherman, D-CA, pressed CFPB Director Richard Cordray to consider a 60-day enforcement delay or a “soft enforcement” period when the new mortgage disclosures take effect Aug. 1. The new rule creates an integrated disclosure framework under the Truth in Lending Act and Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, commonly known as TRID. Cordray did not come right out...
In less than 10 months, a volume-heavy private-label origination deal that PHH Mortgage has with Wall Street giant Merrill Lynch is set to expire, potentially blowing a hole in its production machine. According to a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, PHH acknowledges that “there can be no assurances that the agreement will be renewed on favorable terms, if at all.” If the deal were to be cancelled, PHH could see...
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