Mortgage applications rose 5.5 percent for the week ending Nov. 18, 2016, versus the prior week, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey. The Refinance Index declined 3 percent from the previous week to its lowest level since January 2016. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 19 percent from one week earlier. …
The Federal Communications Commission last week denied a request from the Mortgage Bankers Association to exempt calls from mortgage servicers to borrowers from provisions of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. Officials at the MBA said the denial was unexpected. Among other issues, the petition had received some support from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The TCPA and FCC rules prohibit...
The HFPC noted that most of the potential mortgages would have gone to borrowers with credit scores below 660, and to a lesser extent, to borrowers with credit scores between 660 and 700.
The Department of Justice lost its bid to have an FHA lawsuit against Quicken Loans heard in the nation’s capital after a federal judge this week ordered the case transferred to federal district court in Michigan. Judge Reggie Walton of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia agreed with Quicken that the proper forum for adjudicating the government’s False Claims Act case is the Eastern District Court in downtown Detroit. While the court agreed that the case has national implications, it also noted the “strong local interest in this matter in the Eastern District of Michigan,” where “Quicken Loans underwrote the FHA loans at issue, endorsed those loans, and certified its compliance as to those loans.” While certain factors weighed against the transfer, the alleged unlawful activity occurred in or near Detroit, where the lender is headquartered and most of its employees are located. The case, U.S. v. Quicken Loans, ...
FHA and VA loan performance improved in the third quarter of 2016 as the delinquency rate on government-backed loans declined on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s latest mortgage delinquency survey. The FHA delinquency rate fell by 16 basis points to 8.30 percent, its lowest level since 4Q97, with all categories – 30-days, 60-days and 90 days + past due – reflecting the decline. Over the quarter, the delinquency rate of FHA loans with payments 30 days past due dropped 4 bps from the previous quarter. Insured loans that were 60 days behind on their payments saw a 6 bps drop in their delinquency rate, while that for seriously delinquent loans fell 9 bps during the period. FHA mortgages showed some declines in performance on a non-seasonally adjusted basis. Approximately 8.70 percent of outstanding FHA loans were past due as of the end of the third quarter, up 25 bps from the ...
Industry Groups Urge Congressional Leaders to Pass ‘Tax Extenders’ Legislation. Three industry groups called upon House and Senate leaders to pass “tax extenders” legislation, including two critical tax provisions that are scheduled to expire at the end of 2016. In a joint letter this week, the Mortgage Bankers Association, National Association of Realtors and the National Association of Home Builders called for the “rapid enactment” of a broad “tax extenders” package, including mortgage-debt forgiveness and tax deduction for mortgage insurance premiums. Passing a legislative package of tax extenders that includes the two provisions would provide much-needed certainty to the residential real estate markets, the letter said. Federal Agencies Propose Rule to Expand Access to Private Flood Insurance. Federal banking and credit union regulators and the Farm Credit Administration have published a ...
The FHA Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund may be healthy enough to support a cut in forward-mortgage premiums, but officials at the Department of Housing and Urban Development aren’t yet willing to pull the trigger. HUD this week released its annual FHA audit showing strong improvement in the MMI Fund from the forward-mortgage side of the ledger. During a press briefing, Edward Golding, principal deputy assistant secretary for housing, said the strong audit results “do indicate there is room to return pricing to that which reflects the risks in the program.” He noted that the $245 billion in new FHA business in fiscal 2016 clearly added to the strength of the MMI Fund, “with indications we’re pricing above the risk of the program.” At the same time, Golding made...
Mortgage performance declined somewhat in the third quarter of 2016 compared with the previous quarter, according to the Inside Mortgage Finance Large Servicer Delinquency Index. The increase in delinquencies and foreclosures was part of a seasonal trend seen in recent years. The large servicers reported a total delinquency/foreclosure rate of 5.08 percent as of the end of the third quarter, up 8.6 basis points from the previous quarter. The increase was driven by new delinquencies across various buckets – largely concentrated among FHA mortgages – while the foreclosure rate decreased slightly. Every year since 2011, the total delinquency/foreclosure rate has increased...
Since the historic election of last week, interest rates have been steadily rising, turning the tables on what increasingly looked like a moribund market for servicing sales. But not anymore. Since the Nov. 8 election, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury has spiked 50 basis points to 2.24 percent with mortgage rates following in the wake. And while this spells bad news for originators – especially refinance specialists – it’s manna from heaven for holders of mortgage servicing rights. As Inside Mortgage Finance went to press this week, market makers were...
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