Ginnie Mae servicing continued to show strong growth as it posted a 4.0 percent jump in the first quarter of 2011 from the previous quarter and an overall 19.3 percent increase from the same period last year. The top 50 Ginnie servicers reported $1.11 trillion of single-family mortgage debt outstanding at the end of the... [Includes one data chart]

Good news for mortgage brokers: the FHA has eliminated the statutory 1 percent origination cap on 203(k) rehabilitation mortgages. This means that loan originators may set and collect “fair, reasonable and customary fees and charges” above 1 percent for originating “fixer upper” mortgage ...

Borrowers approved by the FHA to acquire real estate owned (REO) properties under the FHA’s “$100 Down” sales incentive will benefit from new guidance issued recently by the agency. Pre-approved borrowers under an FHA REO program requiring a minimal $100 cash investment may finance ...

Wall Street analysts said it is unlikely banks will take losses on repurchased delinquent FHA mortgage loans, easing fears that FHA may not fully reimburse those losses due to servicing errors. Commenting on a report challenging banks’ policy of accruing interest on delinquent FHA loans, analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods said ...

The consent orders agreed to recently by 14 mortgage servicers and two third-party service providers will have little impact on the servicing of FHA loans, according to compliance experts. The only areas where the orders might create additional obligations are requirements that the servicer establish a...

The U.S. government is suing Deutsche Bank and its mortgage unit for more than $1 billion for allegedly abusing their direct endorsement authority by duping the FHA into insuring ineligible mortgage loans. The Department of Justice and the Department of Housing and Urban Development filed a...

The House Financial Services’ Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises this week approved a mark-up of H.R. 940, “the U.S. Covered Bond Act of 2011.” The mark-up was approved by a voice vote, including two amendments, and is scheduled to receive consideration by the...

The trustee for bankrupt former jumbo lender Thornburg Mortgage filed a number of lawsuits last week claiming that the lender’s warehouse lenders made “unjustified” margin calls on Thornburg, forcing the lender into bankruptcy. In a filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Baltimore, Joel Sher, the trustee of what is now known as...

The consent orders recently agreed to between federal regulators and large bank servicers will help Ocwen Financial, according to officials at one of the largest servicers not subject to the enforcement action. “We think these orders enhance our ability to source new business as existing servicers seek to either...

Non-bank servicers are likely to face regulatory scrutiny and mandated changes, according to industry lawyers. And the consent orders recently issued by federal regulators to 14 large banks and thrifts could serve as best practices for non-bank servicers until the expected punishments are levied. “If history is any guide, it’s not going to be...