Making the Department of Veterans Affairs’ adjustable-rate mortgage programs permanent would cost $144 million in new direct taxpayer subsidies over the next 10 years, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates. Based on the number of ARM and hybrid ARM loans the VA has guaranteed in recent years, CBO estimates that the VA would guarantee approximately $1.3 billion worth of additional loans annually over the next 10 years. Consequently, additional subsidy costs for those loans would increase direct spending by $52 million over 2012-2017 and $144 million over 2012-2022, the CBO said. Subsidy costs of those additional loan guarantees would be paid from a ...

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is seeking comment and information on mortgages not financed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, including those insured and guaranteed by the federal government, as it reopened the public discussion for the proposed “ability to repay” rule. New data the Federal Housing Finance Agency provided to the CFPB after the close of the rulemaking’s comment period spurred the bureau to reopen the comment period until July 9, 2012. The new FHFA data track the performance of loans purchased or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from 1997 to 2011. The CFPB also has obtained data on ...

The volume of new mortgages with FHA insurance jumped 25.1 percent in April from a year ago, continuing the heightened production pace in government lending seen during the first three months of 2012. Excluding Home Equity Conversion Mortgage originations, FHA lending in April improved not only on a year-over-year basis but also on a monthly basis. FHA lenders combined for $19.2 billion in new FHA endorsements for the month, up 8.2 percent from March and from $17.7 billion in April of last year, according to Inside FHA Lending’s analysis of FHA data. FHA’s April originations rode on a surge of government-insured lending in the first quarter of 2012, during which the ... [1 Chart]

A proposal to replace the FHA’s current Tier Ranking System with a Servicer Performance Scorecard as a basis for determining servicer incentive payment is expected to be published in the Federal Register by the end of this month. In the previous issue of Inside FHA Lending (Volume 5, Issue 11, May 25), it was reported that a coalition of industry groups asked the FHA to adopt a private transfer fee rule in harmony with the final rule recently adopted by the Federal Housing Finance Agency. In a recent seller/servicer bulletin, Freddie Mac announced that, effective July 16, it will not purchase mortgages that are ...

Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp.’s hopes for a “business as usual” relationship with Freddie Mac despite the mortgage insurer’s recent lawsuit against the GSE over a pool insurance dispute appears to be wishful thinking after Freddie has counter-punched with litigation of its own, claiming breach of contract and seeking punitive damages. Two weeks ago MGIC filed suit against Freddie and the GSE’s regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, in the U.S. District Court Eastern District of Wisconsin, Milwaukee division, where the MI is based.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has expressed concern over the “lack of alignment” between FHA’s credit underwriting standards and credit overlays – a probable explanation for the apparent increase in FHA lending to non-traditional FHA borrowers. Responding to an Inside FHA Lending inquiry, FHA Deputy Assistant Secretary Charles Coulter said HUD will look at lenders’ compare ratio as a potential driver for overlays and will work to improve clarity in FHA manual underwriting. In recent remarks at the Mortgage Bankers Association’s National Secondary Market Conference in New York, Coulter said ...

FHA-approved reverse mortgage lenders conducting any new financial assessments of elderly borrowers should not be overly restrictive to ensure that the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage program remains a viable option for cash-poor seniors, according to the National Council on Aging. The NCA, an advocacy group for elderly Americans, noted that lender assessments of borrowers’ ability to repay a HECM loan may be tough seniors with modest income who could not qualify for a conventional home loan would be left with fewer alternatives to tap home equity. The FHA does not have specific income requirements for HECM borrowers. However, policymakers are ...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has paid a total of $962,600 in incentive payments to servicers that used special forbearance for unemployed homeowners since changes to FHA forbearance rules were announced in July last year. The payments covered 6,116 claims filed with HUD under the FHA’s revised special forbearance program from July 2011 through March 2012. The program helps unemployed FHA borrowers stay in their homes while seeking reemployment. Changes to the program require servicers to extend the forbearance period for qualified FHA borrowers from the minimum four months to 12 months. In addition, upfront hurdles were ...

Mortgage and real estate industry groups are urging Congress to make permanent the VA adjustable-rate mortgage program and to update the definition of “rural” to make more families eligible for the Department of Agriculture’s rural housing loan program. The National Association of Realtors, National Association of Home Builders and the Mortgage Bankers Association in a joint letter asked the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs and the Committee on Veteran Affairs to support legislation that would make ARMs and hybrid ARMs permanent products in the VA loan guaranty program. Last month, the House Committee on Veterans Affairs passed ...