Big Four accounting firm Deloitte has paid $149.5 million to the federal government to settle allegations of misconduct in connection with its role as the independent outside auditor of defunct FHA lender Taylor, Bean & Whitaker. The settlement amount includes $115 million in restitution paid to the Department of Housing and Urban Development on Aug. 13, 2018, according to the HUD inspector general. The rest of the payment went to the Department of Justice, which brought the charges on behalf of the government. Deloitte admitted neither to any liability nor to wrongdoing. TBW was an FHA direct endorsement lender and a Ginnie Mae-approved mortgage-backed securities issuer and servicer. It originated, underwrote, acquired and sold mortgages to Freddie Mac and other investors, which used the loans to support MBS issuance or held them as investments. In its heyday, TBW was one of the ...

Alston & Bird: “We’ve all learned the hard way…”

Industry consultant Tim Rood said the first rule for GSE reform should be: “Do no harm.”

Former Federal Housing Finance Agency Acting Director Ed DeMarco told us the bill is a good starting point and includes language that both Democrats and Republicans can agree on...

Fitch views prepayments as a positive credit factor…

Home Equity Conversion Mortgage originations fell dramatically in the second quarter, raising the possibility of a long reverse-mortgage winter in 2018, according to an Inside FHA/VA Lending analysis of HECM data. HECM production fell a whopping 40.9 percent in the second quarter from the previous period. Total HECM originations stood at $8.6 billion by the six-month mark, down 8.3 percent from the prior year. Traditional HECMs, which exclude purchases and refinances, accounted for 80.5 percent of FHA-insured reverse mortgages originated during the first half of 2018. The amount of funds available at loan origination for the first six months totaled $4.7 billion. Analysts blame the low HECM originations on the new lower Principal Limit Factors (PLFs) for HECMs, which became effective in FY 2018. Under the HECM final rule issued last year by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, principal limits [Chart]

The nation’s PMIs have made a significant dent in the first-timer market, insuring a greater volume of mortgages guaranteed by Fannie and Freddie…

Peters departed First Guaranty Mortgage Corp. earlier this year...

The weighted-average coupon is 6.50 percent.

First-time homebuyers accounted for over half of the purchase-money mortgages securitized by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae during the second quarter of 2018, according to a new analysis of mortgage-backed securities data by Inside Mortgage Finance. [Includes four data charts.]