As IMFnews went to press, Seckel was said to be in a meeting and could not be reached for comment.

“Rated nonprime non-qualified-mortgage transactions should broaden the investor base,” Deutsche Bank said.

Overtime pay for underwriters will remain a focus of litigation because courts are split on the issue, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Walter said it will continue to seek appropriate amendments and waivers...

Time to audit your closing agents?

Mortgage compliance experts are cautioning FHA servicers to tread carefully around loss mitigation, annual certifications and reverse mortgages, which could be a potential minefield for False Claims Act lawsuits. While FHA lenders’ exposure to FCA risk remains, the Department of Justice and the Department of Housing and Urban Development have increased their scrutiny of FHA servicing practices for potential violations, according to Phil Schulman and Krista Cooley, both partners in Mayer Brown’s Washington office. In a recent podcast, Schulman warned of increasing DOJ and HUD scrutiny of FHA servicing practices in the last 18 months, a worrisome shift from the origination side, which has seen an estimated $5 billion in settlements and penalties since 2011 for violations of the FCA and the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act. Since 2008, mortgagees participating in ...

Moody’s Investors Service increased its assessment of Wells Fargo’s jumbo-mortgage property valuation practices from above average to strong. The rating service said the improvement was due to Wells no longer having an ownership interest in one of the appraisal management companies used by the bank. “During the prior review, Wells had an equity interest in an AMC which received approximately 90 percent of the appraisal orders,” Moody’s said ... [Includes two briefs]

The Department of Veterans Affairs is seeking approval from the Office of Management and Budget to continue collecting information considered crucial in approving certain lender requests to close VA loans automatically. Currently, non-supervised VA lenders requesting approval to close VA loans on an automatic basis use VA Form 26-8736 to submit the information needed for VA approval. Upon receiving the form, the appropriate VA regional loan center processes and evaluates the information. Without the required data, VA would not be able to determine if a non-supervised lender is qualified for automatic loan processing. The required data include, among other things, a resume of each principal officer’s experience in mortgage lending in a managerial capacity and the latest financial statements audited and certified by a certified public accountant. The form also requires a listing of all ...

PennyMac has revised master mortgage repurchase agreements with Credit Suisse to increase its funding capacity for new loan originations and acquisition of mortgage servicing rights, the company disclosed in a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The increase is temporary – effective from June 23 through Sept. 29 – but it will boost PennyMac’s funding capacity by $486 million. On June 23, 2017, PennyMac agreed to revised terms of its Third Amended and Restated Master Purchase Agreement (CS Repurchase Amendment), which would increase temporarily its maximum committed purchase price to $943 million from $700 million. Entered into on April 28, 2017, the amended repurchase agreement would allow PennyMac to sell to Credit Suisse and later repurchase certain newly originated residential and small-balance multifamily mortgages. The agreement also includes ...

The latest issue of FHA’s Lender Insight provides additional information to lenders regarding the new Loan Review System that was launched on May 15, 2017. FHA urged lenders to keep their contact information current in FHA Connection and in the Lender Electronic Appraisal Portal so that they receive automated system notifications on time. Also, lenders should review current FHAC user access for appropriate roles, the agency added. Lenders’ in-house FHAC application coordinators are authorized to grant access to, and assign roles within, the LRS. Having the correct roles should enable users to access the system from the FHAC menu, the FHA said. In addition, the lender must take a photo of any error messages that might appear on screen before contacting the FHA Resource Center, the agency advised. Be prepared to provide the date and time of the attempted login, user ID, lender user ID and the ...