Rural borrowers will be paying a higher upfront fee for mortgage loans with a Rural Housing Service guaranty, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced. In an advance notice, the USDA said it will raise the upfront guaranty fee for loans originated under the RHS’ Single Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program in FY2016. For purchase and refinance loans, the upfront guaranty fee will change from 2.00 percent to 2.75 percent of the loan amount. The annual fee will remain at 0.50 percent. The fee increase will apply to guaranteed loans obligated on Oct. 1, 2015, through Sept. 30, 2016, the USDA said. A loan is obligated when the USDA has approved a complete loan-application package and issued a conditional commitment for a single-family housing loan guarantee to the USDA lender. The new fee will apply to loan guaranty requests submitted to the USDA prior to Sept. 30, 2015, without a ...

The Internal Revenue Service is rejecting some lender requests for tax-return transcripts due to a recent data breach, warned the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Housing Service in a lender alert. According to the RHS, the IRS action is meant to deter any fraud that might result from identity theft. The IRS has not responded to a request for confirmation or comment as we went to press. An IRS tax transcript is required as part of a complete loan-application package submitted to a mortgage lender to request a conditional loan commitment. The transcript contains the borrower’s tax record for the current tax year and three prior processing years. The RHS, which guarantees rural housing loans under its Single Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program (SFHGLP), has issued guidance if a transcript request from a lender returns with the following message: “Due to limitations, the IRS is unable to ...

Lenders are accounting for an increasing share of home purchase financing as investors decrease their largely cash buying. Purchases by first-time homebuyers are rising, helped by FHA financing. “First-time homebuyers rarely buy homes with cash and with their increasing participation in the housing market, we expectedly see the proportion of cash-financed transactions falling,” said Tom Popik, research director of Campbell Surveys. The non-cash share of financing for home purchases increased...

Federal financial institution regulators have approved a long-anticipated final rule that revises mandatory flood-insurance and escrow requirements as well as force-placed provisions. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. board of directors adopted the final rule unanimously. It combines two proposed rules issued in 2013 and 2014 that would implement certain provisions in the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 and subsequent changes made by the Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act of 2014 (HFIAA). Biggert-Waters exempts...

The VA maintained a sizeable lead in first-lien mortgage refinancing over FHA and private mortgage insurers in the first quarter of 2015 but yielded to both in purchase originations during the same period. According to the Inside Mortgage Finance database, mortgage lenders originated approximately $221.0 billion of refi loans in the first quarter, a 51.4 percent increase from a revised fourth-quarter production estimate of $146.0 billion. Of first-quarter mortgages securitized by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae, refi loans comprised 61.4 percent, up sharply from 37.6 percent for all of 2014. VA streamline refis accounted for $20.4 billion while FHA refis made up $12.2 billion of refis pooled in agency mortgage-backed securities. FHA’s refi production jumped 57.8 percent in the first quarter. On the other hand, refi loans with private MI accounted for $14.2 billion produced during the ...

First Tennessee Bank’s agreement with federal agencies to pay $212.5 million to resolve allegations of violation of the False Claims Act is the latest proof of the government’s unrelenting pursuit of FHA lenders over underwriting and quality control issues. The settlement once again demonstrates the federal government’s commitment to combat FHA fraud using the FCA to recover taxpayer losses, according to an analysis by Boston law firm Greene LLP. “[The Department of Housing and Urban Development] made a point of saying that this behavior is exactly what led to the financial crisis and housing market downturn,” Greene’s compliance attorneys said. HUD and the Department of Justice have vowed to continue to pursue and hold accountable lenders who put profits ahead of their customers and legal obligations, the attorneys added. According to the DOJ, First Tennessee, a regional bank, admitted ...

Consumer education is the key to VA’s growing origination volume, according to a top executive of a VA-certified lender. “It has to do more with increased awareness of VA loans and their benefit to veterans,” said Jonathan Schrum, vice president at Commerce Home Mortgage, a VA lender in Huntington Beach, CA. Awareness comes with education, and one can go to any network or cable channel or print publication and see advertisements for loans with a VA guaranty, said Schrum. “There are many veterans and service members out there who don’t know what loan programs are available to them and what they can do,” he observed. “So I think it’s word of mouth, talking about it ourselves and getting the word out there about VA loans as much as we can.” The VA loan is such a specific product that a borrower needs to know what it is – the funding, fees, percentages for disabled vets – they need to ...

The FHA is planning to propose a number of rules for the single-family mortgage insurance program through the second half of 2015 and is expecting to act soon on a long-anticipated rule on seller concessions. In its semiannual regulatory agenda, the FHA appears poised to take final action this month on a five-year-old proposed rule seeking to lower FHA seller concessions or contributions toward a buyer’s closing cost. The proposed rule is one of three FHA initiatives to help restore the FHA’s Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund, which was severely depleted during the housing crisis. Similar to what was proposed in the President’s FY 2012 budget, the proposed rule would limit concessions to 3 percent or $6,000, whichever is greater. The proposal would limit acceptable use of concessions to borrower closing costs, prepaid items, discount points, FHA upfront insurance premium and ...

Total originations of reverse mortgages with FHA insurance increased in the first three months of 2015, according to an Inside FHA/VA Lending analysis of agency data. Home Equity Conversion Mortgage production, overall, rose 3.0 percent to $3.9 billion from the fourth quarter of 2014 and was down 2.0 percent on a year-over-year basis. HECM purchase loans far outpaced refinances, which accounted for only 14.5 percent of total HECM volume in the first quarter. Lenders reported a total of $2.3 billion in initial HECM principal amount at loan origination. Meanwhile, there is continued investor interest in HECM mortgage-backed securities (HMBS), according to Ginnie Mae. The unpaid principal balance of HMBS climbed to $48.9 billion in FY 2014 and the number of participations (the funded portions of HECM loans that have been securitized) has increased to 6,585, 856. HMBS issuance was ... [1 chart]

The FHA plans to issue a proposed rule in the fall that would allow it to insure single-family condominium units in multifamily projects, according to the agency’s regulatory agenda for the second half of 2015. The proposed rule would cover condo units that are attached, detached, semi-detached or manufactured. It would apply as well to undivided interests in the common areas and facilities that serve the project. The proposed change would clarify and ensure lender compliance with the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. HERA moved FHA’s authority to insure single-family condominiums from Section 234 to Section 203 of the National Housing Act. However, because Section 203 does not provide the same authority for FHA, rulemaking became necessary. HERA also granted FHA the authority to issue administrative notices to convey condominium policy guidance until a ...