President Trump this week signed a short-term spending bill that would keep the government operating until Feb. 8, 2018. The bill ended a three-day shutdown after the previous spending authority for most of the government expired at midnight on Jan. 19. However, the threat of another shutdown looms. FHA and Ginnie Mae both had contingency plans in place in case the short-lived shutdown dragged on, as it had in 2013. That event lasted for 16 days, at a loss of $1.6 billion a day to the federal government. Under FHA’s emergency plan, the agency would continue to endorse new single-family forward mortgages, but not Home Equity Conversion Mortgages and Title I loans. Ginnie would reduce staffing to essential personnel but continue its secondary market operations. It would continue to remit timely payment of principal and interest to investors, grant commitment authority and support issuance of ...

Recoveries from FCA Settlements Involving FHA Loans Down Dramatically in 2017. The Department of Justice reported collecting more than $543 million in False Claims Act settlements and judgments to resolve housing and mortgage fraud complaints in FY 2017, down from $1.6 billion in FY 2016. The largest settlement of a False Claims Act case was $296 million, which involved an FHA lender and the DOJ. In September 2017, a unanimous jury in Houston, TX, found that Allied Home Mortgage Capital Corp. and Allied Home Mortgage Corp. violated the FCA and the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989 by falsely certifying that thousands of high-risk, poor-quality loans were eligible for FHA insurance. The companies were also accused of originating FHA loans from more than 100 “shadow” branch offices without authorization from the ...

Losses on non-agency MBS backed by re-performing loans issued in recent years have been minimal, according to DBRS. Performance has been helped by home price appreciation, and the one deal to suffer significant losses was an outlier in terms of the types of loans it included.

The law firm helped a number of companies structure MSR financing transactions last year.

As for the FHFA position, several trade group chiefs fear that once Watt departs, the FHFA will be put in the hands of a Mick Mulvaney-type...

In a statement issued to Inside Mortgage Finance, Sen. Mark Warner, D-VA – a key player in the process – said he is still interested in the topic, noting the panel wants a...

Investors are increasingly interested in financing mortgage servicing rights and investing in ex-cess servicing spread strips, according to the law firm of Hunton & Williams. The firm helped a number of companies structure MSR financing transactions last year.

The Community Mortgage Lenders of America is also against the concept of guarantors being lenders or having lending affiliates.

In November of last year, Capital One disclosed it would exit the mortgage business, which it entered eight years ago by purchasing Chevy Chase Bank.

CFPB's Mulvaney: “If the CFPB loses a court case because we pushed too hard, we simply move on to the next matter. But where do those that we have charged go to get their time, their money, or their good names back?”