Without clear, early implementation guidance from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, FHA mortgage lenders could start underwriting to the lower loan limits before the Oct. 1 effective date, limiting the origination of FHA loans, warned two real estate industry groups. Providing guidance to mortgage lenders on how to manage the transition from the current top-end amount of $729,750 to $625,500 for high-cost areas without disrupting FHA lending is critical, the Mortgage Bankers Association and the National Association of Home Builders wrote to HUD. Lenders manage their pipelines based on ...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development announced settlements last week with two mortgage lending-related entities over alleged violations of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act having to do with affiliates and fees. In one case, HUD alleged that title company Fidelity National Financial Inc., through its subsidiaries, paid fees for the referral of settlement service business in violation of Section 8 of RESPA...

The Justice Department has sued Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp., the nation’s largest mortgage insurance company, and two of its underwriting staffers, accusing them of discriminating against women mortgage loan applicants who were on paid maternity leave. The government’s suit, filed July 5, 2011, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, accuses MGIC of requiring women on paid maternity leave to return to work before the company would insure their mortgages...

Most of the top mortgage originators of agency-eligible home loans posted significant declines in MBS issuance during the second quarter, but a handful of firms bucked the current, according to a new ranking and analysis based on the Inside Mortgage Finance MBS Database. Overall agency MBS production declined 33.8 percent from the first quarter to the second, hitting its lowest three-month volume since the end of 2008. Through the midway point in 2011, single-family mortgage securitization by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae was off ... [includes two data charts]

Overlooking investor overlays in mortgage loan underwriting can be quite costly and could expose lenders to regulatory risk and liability. iServe Residential Lending, a retail mortgage banker in San Diego, believes it has found the ultimate solution to its underwriting problems, especially with regards to investor overlays, including FHA, VA, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae. iServe, which originates conventional, government and jumbo loans, recently implemented PriceMyLoan, an automated underwriting and loan pricing tool from Insight Lending Solutions, the same folks who created TOTAL Scorecard for FHA. “PriceMyLoan is the only system that...

A new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis reveals that the proposed qualified residential mortgage standard drafted earlier this year by federal regulators would affect individual mortgage originators in dramatically different ways. As the regulators acknowledged in their proposed rule, a significant share of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans originated through 2009 would not meet new standards for loan-to-value ratios, borrower credit history, debt-to-income ratio and other factors. Most loans being sold to the government-sponsored enterprises under today’s pristine underwriting and pricing policies also would fail to meet the... [Includes one data chart]

Credit unions posted a significant increase in mortgage production volume during the first quarter of 2011, compared to the same period last year, but the industry has not yet broken through to a broader role in the market. Federally insured credit unions originated $21.5 billion in home mortgages during the first three months of the year, up 16.6 percent from a year ago, according to data from the National Credit Union Administration. But that was down 35.7 percent from the $33.5 billion that credit unions originated in the fourth quarter of 2010. The credit union share of the total mortgage market held steady at 6.6 percent of total... [Includes two data charts]

Experts sharply disagreed on the Federal Reserve Board’s controversial new rules on loan officer compensation during a hearing this week in the House Financial Services Committee, with some claiming it is a confused mess and others saying it’s a shield for low-income and minority borrowers. Marc Savitt, president of the Mortgage Center and testifying on behalf of the National Association of Independent Housing, said the rule caused massive job loss among small mortgage businesses and fewer consumer loan options. “As an active participant in meetings with the FRB during the comment period, it was evident the FRB was unwilling to...

At least three lenders are looking to re-establish the market for non-prime lending. Two firms are hoping to attract additional funding and begin non-prime lending shortly, while a smaller player is already offering the loans. Shellpoint Partners has plans to expand the offerings of a recently acquired agency originator, New Penn Financial. Shellpoint is a specialty finance company and joint venture with Ranieri Partners. Lewis Ranieri, a co-founder of Shellpoint, said...

Trade groups representing home builders and real estate agents are warning Congress that a decrease in conforming loan limits will result in higher interest rates for borrowers and other less favorable loan terms. However, the housing advocates face a tough battle in extending temporarily elevated conforming loan limits. Without action from Congress, the high-cost loan limit for agency mortgages and the FHA will fall from $729,750 to $625,500 beginning Oct. 1. Some 5.25 million owner-occupied homes will no longer qualify...