A federal jury awarded more than $93 million in damages to the federal government after finding Allied Home Mortgage entities liable for civil mortgage fraud against the FHA. A unanimous jury found Allied Home Mortgage Capital and Allied Home Mortgage Corp., as well as the company’s president and chief executive, Jim C. Hodge. guilty of mortgage fraud. The jury awarded the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Justice a total of $93 million in damages, including $7.4 million against Hodge. The Allied entities allegedly violated the federal False Claims Act (FCA) and the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act (FIRREA) in connection with “a decade of fraudulent misconduct” related to FHA lending. The FCA provides for treble damages and imposes a penalty of $5,500 to $11,000 for each violation. Separately, FIRREA imposes a ...

Since the November election, mortgage rates have spiked roughly 75 basis points, promising to snuff out the refinancing market and possibly leading to a spate of industry layoffs. But so far, it appears that many firms are keeping their cost-cutting powder dry. “Application volume has been pretty much the same,” said Paul Rozo, CEO of nonbank originator Paramount Residential Mortgage Group, Corona, CA. “I think it’s too early in the game to be thinking about layoffs.” Marc Savitt, a principal in The Mortgage Center, a small West Virginia-based brokerage firm, said...

Mortgage lenders and other employers that have made or are preparing to implement changes to comply with the Department of Labor’s revised overtime pay regulations may have to reevaluate whether to hold off or go forward with those plans, according to wage and overtime experts. On Nov. 22, Judge Amos Mazzant of the Eastern District of Texas granted a request by several states to block the new overtime pay rules that would have gone into effect on Dec. 1. The judge issued a preliminary injunction after determining that the DOL did not have the authority to decide whether workers should be paid overtime based on their salary level alone. Mazzant agreed...

One notable change in the market over the past three years has been the gradual increase in cash-out refi lending.

More lenders are making “bank statement” loans these days, including both banks and nondepositories…

Based on current trading values, Fannie common now has a market capitalization rate (share price multiplied by number of shares) of $28.01 billion. Freddie common is valued at $15.14 billion.

Some banks have reclassified mortgage loan officer duties as a way to avoid paying overtime, IMFnews was told.

All three buildings hit the market in October 2015. According to records from the District of Columbia’s Office of Tax and Revenue, the parcels were once valued at almost $200 million.

The Trump administration has added two more transition team members to HUD. Still, no word yet on whether Ben Carson wants to the secretary job...

Mortgage lenders saw a significant jump in refinance activity during the third quarter of 2016, although purchase-mortgage lending continued to account for over half of new originations, according to a new analysis and ranking by Inside Mortgage Finance. Refi production increased by 20.4 percent from the second to the third quarter, according to revised estimates by Inside Mortgage Finance. A total of $277.0 billion of refi loans were originated during the period, the strongest quarterly volume since the second quarter of 2013, when an estimated $351.0 billion of refinance mortgages were originated. One change in the market over the past three years has been...[Includes three data tables]