FHA Commissioner Carol Galante quashed any industry hope of seeing mortgage insurance premiums lowered at this time, saying that while the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund has shown some improvement, full recovery is still far off. In remarks during the Mortgage Bankers Association’s National Advocacy Conference this week, Galante also defended a provision in the president’s FY 2015 budget proposal seeking statutory authority for the FHA to collect an administrative fee from lenders to help fund quality control improvements. Both issues are high up on the MBA’s lobbying priorities as members gathered in Washington, DC, this week to meet with lawmakers and their staff to discuss FHA and other key industry concerns. Galante said the Department of Housing and Urban Development is currently focused on strengthening the MMI Fund and expanding access to credit for all qualified borrowers. The FHA raised pricing five times from ...
A number of real estate investment trusts and other nonbanks plan to invest in nonprime assets other than vintage non-agency mortgage-backed securities as part of an effort to take credit risk as opposed to interest rate risk. The plans include investments in credit-sensitive loans, seller financing for lenders that work with nonprime borrowers and, potentially, even direct nonprime lending. A year ago, Two Harbors Investment saw an opportunity in what it calls credit-sensitive loans ...
Ethos Lending was looking for an investment from Fenway Summer and ended up merging with Fenway Summer’s mortgage unit. The combined operation plans to start originating agency mortgages in the second quarter of this year and offer prime non-qualified mortgages via the wholesale channel by the end of 2014. Raj Date, the founder of Fenway Summer and the former deputy director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, will serve as chairman of ...
A number of lenders increased their originations of interest-only mortgages in 2013, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. IOs with loan applications of Jan. 10 and beyond will subject lenders to greater liabilities due to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s ability-to-repay rule, but many lenders note that they will continue to offer IOs to well-qualified borrowers. Lenders reported ... [Includes one data chart]
Demand from borrowers for loans that aren’t “qualified mortgages” has prompted many banks to continue to offer non-QMs such as interest-only mortgages or non-agency mortgages with debt-to-income ratios above 43 percent. “We’ve pretty much made the decision that the risk of there being any kind of a kickback from an individual – if we underwrite that thing and document ourselves and do the things we need to do – is a risk worth taking,” said Derek Williams ...
FHFA Director Mel Watt may have something to say soon on the topic of Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac loan level price adjustments, commonly known as LLPAs. As for the GSE 'Scorecard'...
The EXPIRE Act also includes a provision to extend the mortgage insurance premium tax deduction. In a letter supporting the tax extensions to the committee, the Mortgage Bankers Association estimated that for a $200,000 home, homeowners would be able to deduct between $600 and $1,000 from their taxes.
But Wells also offers up disappointing news on its mortgage gain-on-sale results. Its GOS fell to 161 basis points in the first quarter compared to 177 bps in 4Q and 256 bps in 1Q13.
Mortgage lenders are still smarting from a recent cyber-attack on their loan origination software provider, Ellie Mae, but a larger question now looms: If a company of Ellie’s stature was hacked, can it happen to other vendors as well? Tony Garritano, a consultant who manages a mortgage technology advocacy group called Progress in Lending, said, to the best of his knowledge, the attack on Ellie Mae is a first for the industry – and likely not the last. “As more lenders and their vendors migrate to the Internet this will happen again and again,” he said. He notes...
RSS