Rep. Darrell Issa, R-CA, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, is planning to quiz top FHA officials about an apparently deliberate effort by the agency to withhold important information from Congress regarding the true financial health of the FHA insurance fund. In a recent letter to FHA Commissioner Carol Galante, Issa said that the stress test employed by Integrated Financial Engineering in its FY 2012 actuarial review of the FHA Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund yielded a more troubling result than what HUD reported to Congress in November last year. In the actuarial review, IFE reported that ...

The likelihood of new loans exceeding the statutory “high-priced mortgage loan” (HPML) threshold due to a recent policy change relating to FHA mortgage insurance premium payments is causing uneasiness among some lenders, said an industry trade group. This week, the Consumer Mortgage Coalition warned that lenders might not originate FHA-insured loans if they thought the new MIP policy would cause the mortgages to turn into HPMLs and subject them to increased liability. Specifically, the new MIP policy might prevent ...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has issued guidance on several FHA issues, including partial-claim documentation and delivery requirements, clarification regarding title approval at conveyance, interest rates for loss mitigation home-retention options, and subordination of partial-claim liens associated with FHA streamlined refinances. Partial Claim Documentation and Delivery Requirements (ML 2013-19. The guidance addresses the problem of many missing FHA partial-claim documents due to lenders’ failure to comply with HUD procedures for ...

CFPB officials claim that lenders will originate non-qualified mortgages, though industry participants have been skeptical due to the liability involved with such loans. Raj Date, the former deputy director of the CFPB, detailed how his new firm will originate non-QMs.

HUD and FHA offices will be closed on Friday. Foreclosure activity was up and down in May. And the "nerdy" reference behind Fenway Summer.

The amount of home-equity loans held by depository institutions continued to decline in early 2013, with little sign that banks, thrifts and credit unions are likely to ramp up their lending in the near future, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis and ranking. Banks, thrifts and credit unions held some $706.95 billion of home-equity lines of credit and closed-end second mortgages on their books as of the end of March, down 2.8 percent from the previous quarter. Including their $474.09 billion in unused HELOC commitments, depository institutions reported a total home-equity business portfolio of $1.181 trillion, down 7.8 percent from the first quarter of 2012. The unpaid balance of closed-end seconds was...[Includes three data charts]

When the going gets tough in the mortgage lending business, the tough starting laying off loan officers, underwriters, processors, and any others whose jobs are tied to the origination function. As Inside Mortgage Finance went to press this week, there were growing fears in the industry that declining applications – driven by a weakening market for refinancings – were finally taking their toll with several firms contemplating cutting production staff or already handing out pink slips. Industry executives said...

Speaking at a trade show gathering, the ABA's Chris Lewis urged bankers to educate upper management as well as front-line loan officers about the finer nuances of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s ATR rule.

FHA officials had sought the legislation so they can act quickly to address problems involving the troubled HECM program.

Bank of America recorded $10.45 billion of mortgage repurchases and indemnifications during the first quarter of 2013, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of recently released call report data.