The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s nonpayment orders were effective in preventing payment of improper claims on FHA loans, according to the department’s inspector general. The HUD IG said a review of 17 claims with an active nonpayment order and 10 claims that had no such order show no improper claims that were paid. The IG conducted its audit from October to December 2017, focusing on FHA loans that had a nonpayment order and a claim paid from Jan. 1, 2013, to Aug. 31, 2017. Of the 97 loans identified and targeted by IG auditors, 17 were picked as a non-statistical sample based on whether an inactive nonpayment order was entered on the same date as the active nonpayment order, comments entered for the nonpayment order, and the claim-payment amounts. The IG also picked 65 loans that had a claim paid after an inactive nonpayment order was created with an ...
Bipartisan Measure to Protect Vets from Loan Churning Added to S.2155. Sen. Mike Crapo, R-ID, with strong support from Democrats, offered a substitute amendment to S.2155 that includes the language of S.2304, the Protecting Veterans from Predatory Lending Act, to protect veterans from abusive refinancing schemes. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-NC, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-MA, introduced S.2304 as a stand-alone bill on Jan. 11, 2018. S.2155, the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act, aims to promote economic growth, provide tailored regulatory relief, and enhance consumer protections. S.2155 was introduced on Nov. 16, 2017, and reported out of committee on Dec. 5. It was added March 8 to the Senate’s schedule for consideration. Bill Introduced to Prevent Spread of Reverse-Mortgage Foreclosures in Philadelphia. The Philadelphia City Council is considering ...
Before going into government service, Bright co-authored a housing-finance reform paper with former Federal Housing Finance Agency Acting Director Ed DeMarco…
Ginnie Mae is considering a risk-sharing pilot that would have private capital absorb some of the potential losses on FHA loans securitized through the agency. In remarks at the Structured Finance Industry Group conference in Las Vegas recently, Michael Bright, executive vice president and chief operating officer with Ginnie, said no decision has been made on any credit-enhancement structure, as consultations with stakeholders are still ongoing. “We are actively looking at structures we can put in place where we bring in private capital to provide a [partial] guarantee,” explained Bright, Ginnie’s acting president. “The FHA is going be involved in a lot of them.” A risk-share partnership between FHA and private credit enhancers not only would protect the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund but reduce taxpayer risk as well, observers said. The risk-sharing concept would have private mortgage insurers assuming ...
Ginnie Mae is considering changes to the existing pledge agreement that allows mortgage-backed securities issuers to borrow against servicing rights. Revising the acknowledgement agreement between Ginnie, issuers and third-party creditors would ensure that nonbank participants would have sufficient liquidity to make timely payments to investors, said Michael Bright, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Ginnie Mae. In remarks at the recent Structured Finance Industry Group conference in Las Vegas, Bright said the change aims to strengthen Ginnie’s ability to oversee its issuer base, which has shifted from large regulated banks to mostly unregulated nonbanks. Nonbanks filled the void after a contingent of large banks exited the FHA market due to concern about the government’s use of the False Claims Act and the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act in ...
Gordon Albrecht, a senior director at specialty servicer FCI Lender Services, told IMFnews the new CFPB rules, in general, mean “more work and more servicing costs.”
The nation’s subservicing specialists increased the dollar volume of their contracts by a scant 0.5 percent in the fourth quarter, a sign that the market may be easing somewhat. But anecdotal evidence suggests there’s more gas left in the out-sourcing tank.