More lenders will be able to make mortgage loans to rural homebuyers due to sweeping changes made by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to its single-family home loan guaranty program. Published in the Dec. 9 Federal Register, the changes are part of a broad program overhaul to strengthen rural housing markets, increase the availability of rural home loans and spur the construction of new homes in rural areas. The changes in the interim final rule will take effect on Sept. 1, 2014, and are likely to draw more prospective homebuyers to the program, the agency said. Commenters have until Jan. 8 to ...

Despite two consecutive quarterly production declines, the Department of Veterans Affairs Home Loan Guaranty program is well on its way to a record year due to strong refinance volumes and demand for home-purchase mortgages. Federally guaranteed lending to military service members fell in the third quarter of 2013 by 10.6 percent from the second quarter while volume over the nine-month period increased by 14.9 percent compared to the same period last year, according to Inside FHA Lending’s analysis of VA lending. Over a nine-month period, VA lenders originated an ...

RHS Extends Submission Deadline for Online Homeownership Courses. The Rural Housing Service has extended the deadline for submitting online homeownership education courses for use in the agency’s Single Family House Section 502 Direct Loan Program. The new deadline is Dec. 31, 2013. The RHS will review all submitted education packages, each of which should include a course background, a copy of a certificate of completion, a price sheet, and the user’s contact information. HUD Extends Recertification Filing Deadline for All Lenders. The Department of Housing and Urban Development has extended the ...

Mortgage debt outstanding is on the rise again after after five long years of winter. Should mortgage servicers pop the champagne?

“We are expecting to see people trying to inflate their income or hiding and downplaying their monthly obligations,” said Interthinx's Ann Fulmer.

Senior lawmakers in the Senate said they remain “bullish” on moving legislation to the floor sooner rather than later in 2014.

Officials close to the matter said the MI policy briefing was cancelled due to Senate approval of a new permanent director to the agency, Mel Watt, a former North Carolina Congressman.

Purchase-mortgage originations continued to grow during the third quarter of 2013, with a significant share of the loans coming from loan correspondents, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Mortgage Finance. Lenders generated an estimated $218.0 billion in purchase mortgages during the third quarter, the highest three-month volume since the third quarter of 2007. That was up 17.2 percent from the second quarter and it brought year-to-date production to $583.0 billion, up 30.4 percent from the same period in 2012. Refinance production continued...[Includes four data charts]

Warehouse commitments extended to nonbanks fell 16 percent on a sequential basis in the third quarter to roughly $20.5 billion, according to new figures compiled by Inside Mortgage Finance. Compared to the same period a year earlier, commitments tumbled even more: 20 percent. The drop in commitments mirrored, somewhat, the fall-off in residential originations, which declined almost 19 percent in the third quarter. However, commitments measure how much credit a warehouse lender is willing to provide – not how much it actually provides. Wells Fargo, the nation’s largest warehouse lender, had...[Includes one data chart]

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau may formally address the treatment of affiliate fees in the points-and-fees calculation for qualified mortgages under the agency’s ability-to-repay rule, which takes effect in just a few weeks. Until such a decision is made, industry representatives have put together some guidance on how to exclude such fees from that 3 percent cap. “There has been significant industry confusion concerning the extent to which affiliate fees are included in the points-and-fees calculation, particularly when only a portion of a fee is retained by an affiliate,” the Mortgage Bankers Association said early this week. The trade group has put together a document outlining its understanding of the CFPB’s definitive guidance, based on discussions with bureau staff, on the treatment of affiliate fees in both the qualified mortgage and the Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act points-and-fees calculations. “Please keep in mind...