The financial services industry is calling on the FHA to either make drastic changes to proposed timelines for filing insurance claims or kill the entire proposal. Banks, nonbanks, credit unions and industry trade groups pushed back against the controversial proposal, warning it would do more harm than good to the FHA single-family program, lenders and consumers. Concerned with worsening late-claim filing, the FHA proposed to establish a timeframe for filing insurance claims and to penalize lenders with complete termination of insurance if they fail to meet the deadlines. In addition, the agency proposed to prohibit reimbursement of certain expenses if a mortgagee fails to complete certain actions within prescribed periods. Finally, the FHA proposed to establish a new method by which interest-rate curtailments and expense curtailments are pro-rated. Mortgage lenders have ...
The FHA should make further adjustments to its latest loan-level certification proposal to fully achieve its aim of limiting lenders’ False Claims Act liability, according to an Urban Institute analysis. As drafted, the agency’s proposed measures to limit liability to errors that lenders can and should avoid appear to fall short of their objective, wrote UI Senior Fellow Jim Parrott. He urged the FHA to make the small changes needed to align the severity of penalties (indemnifications, huge settlements) with the gravity of the mistakes. Many FHA lenders have restricted their lending and imposed overlays partly because of uncertainty in how the agency enforces its underwriting rules. Lenders agree with the need for tougher enforcement against mortgage fraud and misrepresentations that have cost the FHA insurance fund millions of dollars in losses. However, even a minor mistake or a ...
A major player in the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage market has agreed to pay $29.6 million to resolve allegations of submitting false claims related to the servicing of FHA-insured reverse mortgages. According to the Department of Justice, Walter Investment Management Corp., through its mortgage subsidiaries, violated the False Claims Act by submitting false claims for debenture interest from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. A debenture is a type of debt instrument not secured by physical assets or collateral. It is backed only by the issuer’s general creditworthiness and reputation. HUD requires lenders to self-report curtailment of debenture interest if it misses any foreclosure deadlines. Under the HECM program, a loan becomes due and payable when the home is sold, remains vacant for more than 12 months or upon the ...
The Department of Housing and Urban Development recently saw its long-running attempt to recover $179 million from a bankrupt FHA lender come to a disappointing close, receiving only a little over half-a-million dollars after liquidation. HUD’s Inspector General gave the agency the green light to book its share of funds available to pay an $89.9 million HUD claim against the now-defunct lender Taylor, Bean & Whitaker, ending further action against the company. In 2006, whistleblowers filed a “qui tam” lawsuit in federal district court in Georgia alleging that TBW and Home America Mortgage had falsely certified and approved poorly underwritten loans for FHA insurance. In 2009, the two mortgage lenders filed for bankruptcy separately but were later consolidated by the court into one bankruptcy case. In May 2010, the Department of Justice, on behalf of HUD, filed a ...
Now that interest rates have stopped falling – at least, for now – the servicing acquisition market has shifted into high gear with talk of a steady stream of both flow and bulk transactions through the remainder of 2015. “This could turn out to be one of the best quarters of the year for sales,” said Mark Garland, president of MountainView Servicing Group, Denver. “If it’s not the best, it could be close.” Tom Piercy, managing member of Interactive Mortgage Advisors, noted...
RSS