The Department of Veterans Affairs recently clarified policy regarding lender use of credits or interest rates to pay veterans’ costs in VA home loans. Under VA regulations, lenders may charge and a veteran may pay a flat fee not exceeding 1 percent of the loan amount. The VA allows the charge provided it is in lieu of all other charges related to the costs of origination not expressly specified and allowed in the regulations. However, the agency has learned that some lenders are charging veterans interest-rate premiums in exchange for temporarily subsidizing the borrower’s monthly payments. “More precisely, an interest-rate premium is imposed as a charge for a cash advance on a loan principal,” the VA explained. While the agency allows lenders to charge borrowers for allowable costs, which may be made through an interest-rate adjustment, it clearly prohibits charges for impermissible costs, like ...
Former Fannie Mae executive and critic of the government-sponsored enterprises’ credit-risk transfer programs, Tim Howard, said on his blog this week that CRTs only help “sustain what has become a very profitable program for Wall Street firms and capital market investors.”
The mortgage servicing business racked up its third consecutive year of steady growth in 2017, following seven years of erosion, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis and ranking.
The IRS recently formed a working group comprised of industry participants to address problems with the Income Verification Express Service, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Hensarling is chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, which means any Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac reform bill must first go through his panel, whether he’s the author or not.
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