The Department of Veterans Affairs has issued guidance clarifying its requirements for completing the Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loan Worksheet. The guidance is effective for all IRRRL applications originated on or after July 2, 2017. The VA said it has received many inquiries from lenders regarding the proper completion of IRRRL Worksheet (VA Form 26-8923) since the implementation of the TRID-LE and CD (Truth in Lending Act-Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act Integrated Loan Estimate and Closing Disclosure.) The guidance clarifies and establishes VA policy regarding the following: Amount of the existing allowable loan balance (Line 1); Principal reduction from veteran (Line 2); Maximum allowable discount points (Line 5); Maximum allowable closing costs (Line 8); Maximum allowable closing costs (Line 11); and Maximum loan amount (Line 18). VA said it understands the ...
PennyMac has announced that, effective immediately, for FHA, VA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac transactions, lenders may provide Equifax’s The Work Number verification of employment, or a written VOE from an equivalent income-verification company in lieu of tax transcripts for salaried borrowers. The Work Number is a user-paid VOE database acquired by Equifax in February 2007. The written VOE must have full income figures supporting the qualifying income, said PennyMac. For all loans closed on or after June 15, 2017, the 2016 tax transcript will be required, unless the file contains evidence an extension was filed along with a copy of the Internal Revenue Service notice for 2016 showing “no record of return filed.” For all loans closed on or after Dec. 15, 2017, 2016 tax returns and tax transcripts will be required. PennyMac reminded lenders that its underwriting system cannot respond to ...
With only days to go before the implementation of its new Loan Review System, the FHA is encouraging lenders to take a few more steps to ensure smooth transition to the new system. The LRS will go live on May 15, 2017, as the new electronic platform for FHA’s Title II single-family, quality-control processes. Lenders will use the LRS to interact with FHA during post-endorsement loan reviews, direct endorsement authority test cases, lender monitoring reviews and lender self-reporting of fraud and other material findings. Findings will be communicated through the system’s defect taxonomy, which provides a streamlined method of identifying and capturing information about defects uncovered during individual loan reviews. In its latest guidance, the FHA instructs lenders to check access to FHA Connection for any potential glitches. All users access the LRS through FHA Connection via the ...
New USDA Chief. Former Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue was sworn in as Secretary of Agriculture on April 25, shortly after the Senate confirmed him. At the same time, President Trump signed an executive order creating a task force on growing housing, among other things, as an economic driver in rural communities. Improved Lender Search List Launched. The FHA last week announced an improved lender list-search capability to help the public search for FHA-approved single-family and multifamily lenders. The search engine allows search on a variety of criteria, including lender name, city, state, servicer-originator type, and recent Home Equity Conversion Mortgage or 203(k) rehabilitation mortgage experience. The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s new Lender List Search web page replaces the previous Lender List lookup page on HUD.gov. While search criteria have not ...
PHH Mortgage, Walter Investment Management Corp. and Ocwen Financial these days are all working from the same survival playbook: sell their most valuable asset – mortgage servicing rights – and remain as the subservicer of record. The idea is simple. All three hope to raise cash by selling MSR assets, eliminate the need to hold large sums for servicing advances and – importantly – buy some time. There’s...