FHA loan production declined by 11.0 percent in February from the previous month but increased 1.2 percent from a year ago, according to Inside FHA Lending’s analysis of FHA data. Approved lenders reported $15.2 billion in new FHA-insured loans in February, down from $17.1 billion the previous month but up from $15.0 billion in the same month last year. In-house originations accounted for the lion’s share of FHA originations, 78.2 percent, for the month, while purchase mortgages made up the bulk of FHA endorsements at 55.1 percent. An estimated 97.1 percent were ... [1 Chart]

Homebuyers rely on real estate agents to recommend specific lenders in about one-third of the mortgage-financed home purchases now taking place in the U.S. housing market. And despite the fact that many real estate brokerage firms have some sort of partnership with specific lenders, relatively little business appears to be generated by these arrangements. These are some of the major findings contained in a comprehensive new study of the home purchase mortgage market and the role real estate agents play in generating mortgage business for lenders. The study, “Key Factors in the Referral of Homebuyers to...

The $25.0 billion settlement involving five bank servicers includes refinance eligibility requirements that differ from the settlement’s loan modification program. Only portfolio loans are eligible to meet the settlement’s refi requirements, unlike the mod program, which includes portfolio loans, mortgages in non-agency mortgage-backed securities and FHA loans. Under the pending settlement with 49 state attorneys general and the federal government, Ally Financial, Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo must dedicate $2.78 billion toward refis for certain borrowers with negative equity ...

Flagstar Bank’s recent $133 million settlement with the Department of Justice to resolve fraudulent FHA lending practices could increase lender overlays on the FHA product, resulting in fewer borrowers being able to qualify for an FHA-insured loan, according to analysts. The Flagstar settlement, which came in the wake of the $25 billion national settlement between servicers and state and federal agencies, exacerbates the situation for lenders that already have previous concerns about the severity of FHA fines, including treble damages, for violations of FHA’s highly complex and technical rules, analysts said. Whatever relief FHA lenders may have drawn from the robo-signing settlement was ...

Significant price cuts to the FHA’s Streamline Refinance Program will not hurt the Mortgage Mutual Insurance Fund but will, in fact, benefit from the lower pricing in the long term, said Acting FHA Commissioner Carol Galante.Testifying last week before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies, Galante said the pricing cuts to encourage streamline refinancing as well as upfront and annual mortgage insurance premium increases for forward and jumbo mortgages will generate an additional $1 billion this fiscal year and next, in addition to projections in the president’s FY2013 budget. According to Galante, the FY2013 budget proposal ...

Ginnie Mae will question certain mortgage-backed securities issuers about reporting inconsistencies in pool data submissions over the last couple of months and try to resolve those issues to avoid delay in MBS pool processing. In an audio conference with issuers last week, Ginnie Mae officials said agency staff discovered the flawed data submissions while poring over several months’ worth of pool data submitted by issuers. While most of the information fell within theVargas said the discrepancies were attributed to a small group of issuers, who will be contacted soon to work on corrections before Ginnie Mae puts stronger edits up front. She said the agency wants to ...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced new underwriting guidance relating to the handling of disputed accounts, documentation requirements for self-employed borrowers and identity-of-interest transactions. Announced in Mortgagee Letter 2012-3, the underwriting changes in the HUD handbook will be integrated into the FHA Single-Family Online Handbooks shortly. The revised guidance will take effect on April 1. Under the old guidance regarding disputed accounts and public records, if the credit report reveals that the borrower is disputing any adverse credit information, the mortgage application must be ...

Origination of FHA-insured mortgage loans exceeding $417,000 were concentrated mostly in five states in 2011 even as jumbo loan production dropped further on both monthly and year-to-year bases, according to Inside FHA Lending’s analysis of the latest FHA data. California, New York, Virginia, New Jersey and Maryland accounted for 85.7 percent of the FHA jumbo market in 2011, with lenders reporting $18.2 billion in total originations, down 34.9 percent from 2010 and 2.5 percent from the third to the fourth quarter. California led all states in 2011 in FHA jumbo origination ($8.73 billion) and market share (48.0 percent). Production on a quarterly basis was ... [Two charts]

Discover Financial Services is a few months away from having a residential mortgage component to augment its direct-to-consumer banking business model, thanks to its pending acquisition of LendingTree, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tree.com Inc., for approximately $55.9 million. LendingTree, otherwise known as Home Loan Center, originates and processes residential mortgages in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, with the intent to sell them in the secondary market. Loans held for sale consist primarily of residential first mortgage loans that are secured by residential real...

The mortgage servicer American Home Mortgage Servicing Inc. recently announced a name change to Homeward Residential, reflecting its entrance into the correspondent and warehouse lending market in October 2011. AHMS ranked 18th on a list of top mortgage servicers in 2011 compiled by affiliated publication Inside Mortgage Finance. The company serviced $69.02 billion in residential mortgages at the end of 2011, down 9.7 percent from the year before, with most of its business in non-agency mortgages. The company plans to complete its rebranding as Homeward Residential by the second quarter of 2012. The business...