FHA endorsements saw very little improvement in May as mortgage interest rates began to climb, according to Inside FHA Lending’s analysis of FHA data. Total FHA originations rose only 2.4 percent in May to $22.0 billion from $21.5 billion the previous month, and 8.9 percent on a year-over-year basis. Volume was split down the middle between purchase and refinancings, with rates rising from 3.35 percent during the first week of May to 3.81 percent at the end of May. Retail accounted for 81 percent of FHA endorsements, which were mostly 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages. The average interest rate for FHA-insured, 30-year FRMs was ... [1 chart]
Reverse mortgage lenders, consumer groups and certain advocates for the elderly are urging Congress to enact legislation passed recently by the House of Representatives granting the FHA additional authority to govern its reverse mortgage program. Testifying before the Senate Banking Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation and Community Development, the groups said the most productive action Congress can take is to pass H.R. 2167 to allow HUD to make expeditious changes to the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage program through mortgagee letters. The bill, which the House approved on June 12, would ...
HUD Explains ‘Good Neighbor Next Door’ Program. The Department of Housing and Urban Development has issued Mortgagee Letter 2013-20 to clarify certain things about the FHA’s Good Neighbor Next Door Sales program. The program allows eligible borrowers to purchase, at 50 percent off the list price, a HUD-acquired single-unit home located in an area that the department has targeted for revitalization. According to HUD, the mortgage insurance premium should be based on the first mortgage only. The agency also clarified the process for allowing interruptions to ...
Implementation of state-specific servicing standards like California’s would impose "divergent and conflicting standards" that will add costs to future home buyers and create confusion, said one MBA official.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, responding to input from the mortgage lending community, this week issued a number of proposed clarifications and revisions to its controversial new rule on loan originators, as well as other mortgage rules set to take effect in January 2014. Separately, CFPB Director Richard Cordray made clear that the agency will not delay implementation of the new rules, which include determining a borrower’s ability to repay and massive changes in mortgage servicing requirements. In a speech late last week, he promised to work with the industry to ensure as smooth an implementation process as possible. “We would make...
For the past two years, Bank of America has been the poster child of legacy servicing sales, but it may soon have some company. According to industry advisors who specialize in the mortgage servicing rights market, JPMorgan Chase and a few other large banks with seasoned portfolios are developing “deal teams” to explore their options. Chase’s name has surfaced from time to time as a select seller of legacy product. But it also has been a selective buyer of servicing, including the purchase last fall of $70 billion in rights from MetLife, which was closing out its interest in the mortgage business. A spokeswoman for Chase declined...
Servicers appear to have won a battle with consumer advocates regarding state adoption of servicing requirements that exceed those established by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The Council of State Governments this weekend decided against recommending California’s “Homeowner’s Bill of Rights” as model legislation for states, according to a spokesman for the CSG. The Mortgage Bankers Association had warned that piecemeal adoption of California’s bill would increase costs and create confusion. California’s Homeowner’s Bill of Rights included...
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