Supervised small FHA lenders and mortgagees with less than $500 million in consolidated assets would enjoy some cost relief under a regulatory proposal that would exclude them from submitting audited financial statements. Instead, these institutions would only need to submit their unaudited financial regulatory reports, which include bank and credit union call reports, to fulfill their net worth reporting obligations with the Department of Housing and Urban Development. That is the same exclusion the federal banking agencies – the Federal Reserve Board, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., and the National Credit Union Administration – give ...

Private mortgage insurers may soon find themselves required to meet new eligibility standards if they want to continue doing business with the government-sponsored enterprises. In written testimony submitted to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, FHFA Acting Director Edward DeMarco said the FHFA intends to set new criteria for private MI companies in doing business with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The revised private MI standards are among the agency’s priorities in 2013 and is part of the conservatorship strategic plan to ...

Ginnie Mae is seeking feedback from dealers, issuers and investors about whether to continue to maintain two separate mortgage-backed securities programs or to consolidate them under a single security. Comments are also being sought on other possible options. Bloomberg.com recently reported that Ginnie Mae sent out questionnaires to Wall Street broker-dealers for their input on the future of both the Ginnie Mae I and Ginnie Mae II MBS programs. The agency has been considering whether it should merge the programs for some time. The Ginnie Mae I single-issuer pool program with stringent pooling requirements began in ...

The overall delinquency rate among FHA-insured portfolios dropped during the first three months of 2013 while little change was seen in the foreclosure rate quarter over quarter, according to an Inside FHA Lending analysis of FHA data. Top FHA servicer data showed that 15.3 percent of the more than 7.68 million active FHA-insured loans were delinquent as of the end of the first quarter. Although elevated, that percentage was down from the 16.9 percent overall delinquency rate reported by FHA servicers at the end of the fourth quarter last year. The share of FHA-insured mortgages in foreclosure remained flat from quarter to quarter, a sign that the housing crisis may have ... [1 chart]

Although the HARP program had record volume in the first quarter, the program is showing almost no growth, according to exclusive survey figures compiled by Inside Mortgage Finance.

It appears that Home Loan Servicing Solutions, a buyer of residential servicing rights, is making money hand-over-fist.

The Federal Housing Administration recently auctioned off $2.2 billion of nonperforming mortgages, getting about 45 cents on the dollar.

Democrats in Congress are putting pressure on federal regulators to increase oversight of servicers due to problems with independent foreclosure reviews and the $25.0 billion national servicing settlement. The regulators have pushed back to some extent while indicating that servicers will be subject to tighter oversight going forward. In 2011, consent orders from the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency required independent foreclosure reviews to be completed by 14 servicers with the help of consultants. In January, most of the servicers agreed to stop the reviews and alternatively provide $8.5 billion in relief to borrowers. The regulators acknowledged...

No one is suggesting that Wells Fargo will begin lopping off large chunks of its $1.9 trillion residential servicing portfolio in a fashion similar to what Bank of America has done the past two years, but clearly selling mortgage servicing rights is on its to-do list. The big question is how much Wells Fargo is willing to part with. The bank declined to discuss the matter with Inside Mortgage Finance, but confirmed that it seeks to hire what it calls a “project manager” to oversee the effort. A spokeswoman for Wells downplayed the significance of the hire, saying the person who eventually joins the staff will be a “non-executive.” At least four servicing professionals said...

Although all of Bank of America earned $2.6 billion in the first quarter, its mortgage business lost money thanks to legacy problems. Also, it appears the bank is addicted to refis.