FHA Releases Planned System Enhancements for SF Policy Handbook. The FHA is providing an overview of the FHA Connection (FHAC) system enhancements to help lenders get ready before the Single-Family Policy Handbook’s Sept. 14, 2015, effective date. The system enhancements primarily affect three screens in the FHAC case assignments, appraisal logging and insurance application. In the coming weeks, FHA plans to provide technical details for entities using direct interface with FHAC. FHA Announces Availability of Recorded Training Modules for SF Policy Handbook. FHA-approved mortgagees may now use new-recorded training modules to guide them through the ...

The first-time homebuyer share of home purchases in April hit its highest level in more than four years, according to the Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance’s HousingPulse Tracking Survey. The purchases have been boosted by a reduction in the FHA’s mortgage insurance premiums and help rebut concerns about the demise of the first-time homebuyer. First-time homebuyers accounted for 37.6 percent of home purchases in April, up from a 34.3 percent share a year ago, based on three-month moving averages. The last time the first-time homebuyer share of home purchases was above 37.6 percent was in August 2010 at a 40.0 percent share. Tom Popik, research director of Campbell Surveys, said...

Price reduction and improving economic factors helped push FHA volume up in the first quarter of 2015, according to an Inside FHA/VA Lending analysis of agency data. Production of forward single-family mortgages insured by FHA increased by 12.3 percent in the first quarter to $39.5 billion from $35.2 billion in the prior quarter, powered by a sharp uptick in refinances. FHA’s total refi business jumped from $2.29 billion in endorsements in February, a month of record snowstorms in the Northeast, to $8.15 billion in March. Total FHA forward-mortgage business rose by 83.8 percent from February, data showed. FHA streamline refis rose a whopping 144.1 percent quarter-over-quarter while conventional-to-FHA refis jumped 29.2 percent over the same period. Falling purchase loan volume, which was the reason for the overall decline in FHA originations last year, spilled over into ... [2 charts]

The VA share of total loan applications (purchase and refinancing) for the week ending May 8, remained unchanged at 11.9 percent while FHA’s share fell to 13.8 percent from 14.0 percent the week prior, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s latest weekly survey of applications. VA purchase loan applications were up a smidgen, 0.2 percent, for the week while FHA purchase applications were up slightly higher, 0.6 percent. Refi applications at both agencies, however, were down for the week – 11.5 percent for FHA and 5.1 percent for VA. Meanwhile, the Rural Housing Service’s share of total applications rose to 0.9 percent as of May 8, from 0.8 percent the week prior. While there was no change in RHS’ share of refi loan applications during the week, its purchase loan applications was up 8.6 percent, a hefty increase for an agency that accounts for only a ...

The FHA overall delinquency rate for single-family mortgages fell by 63 basis points to 9.10 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis in the first quarter of 2015 from the previous quarter, while VA loans recorded the only increase across all loan types over the same period, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Overall, mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures continued to fall in the first quarter and are now at their lowest levels since 2007, according to the MBA’s quarterly delinquency-rate survey. On a seasonally adjusted basis, the overall delinquency rate fell 14 bps to 5.54 percent from the fourth quarter of 2014, and 57 bps from one year ago, the MBA said. The serious delinquency rate – the share of mortgages that are 90 days or more past due or in foreclosure – likewise fell 28 basis points to 4.24 percent from the previous quarter and down ...

Mortgage servicer Ocwen Financial, the target of a state enforcement action for allegedly mishandling distressed borrowers, said it would delay its regulatory 10-Q filing because of an impairment charge on Ginnie Mae servicing rights. The impairment was caused by a 50 basis point cut in the FHA’s annual mortgage insurance premium, which took effect in January, the servicer said. Although it had expected a $34.4 million profit in the first quarter of 2015, Ocwen took a $17.8 million impairment charge, which included monitoring costs, “strategic advisor expenses,” and fair-value adjustments. FHA lowered the annual MIP to enable more borrowers to obtain an FHA-insured single-family mortgage loan with a 3.5 percent downpayment. Ocwen would likely lose money if it sold off its government-backed MSRs, according to one servicing advisor. Last fall, Ocwen tried to sell its ...

Making mortgage payments is the most common type of mortgage complaint active servicemembers, veterans or their dependents report to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. A recent CFPB report on the top complaints received from military members and their families show that 24 percent were mortgage-related, second to debt collection, which accounted for the highest percentage of complaints received, 39 percent. An estimated 53 percent of servicemember complaints involved mortgage servicing related to loan modifications, collections and foreclosures. The report did not identify any specific loan, although it covered both conventional and government-backed mortgages. Complaints against servicers were mostly about failure to remove or amend derogatory credit reports accrued by servicemembers during the trial period, even though the servicemembers have successfully ...

An internal audit of the FHA/Home Affordable Modification Program’s partial-claim option uncovered flaws that cost taxpayers millions of dollars in ineligible claims. According to a recent report by the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of the Inspector General, HUD’s claim-payment controls were inadequate. As a result, the agency paid more than $22 million in unsupported claims and $103,925 in ineligible claims, the report concluded. Auditors said HUD did not design and implement strong safeguards to detect and prevent improper claims. Because of the flaws, the system allowed payment of more than one claim with a modification or FHA-HAMP option in a 24-month period, the report said. In addition, auditors found duplicate claims, partial claims in excess of 30 percent of the unpaid principal balance at initial default, and non-HAMP partial claims after HUD ...

Mortgage originators are foregoing lending to borrowers who are more likely to become delinquent to avoid strict and unrealistic FHA timelines and cost limits, according to an Urban Institute study. Results of the study, which was issued in December, were again highlighted during a recent Housing Finance Policy Center seminar on servicing at the Urban Institute in Washington, DC. Citing the study she wrote, Laurie Goodman, director of the HFPC, said regulatory uncertainty and a broken servicer-compensation model were partly responsible for tight credit. The high cost of servicing non-performing mortgages and regulatory uncertainty regarding the treatment of delinquent borrowers have made lenders apprehensive about making loans that have even a slight chance of defaulting, she said. Long foreclosure delays in judicial states, burdensome foreclosure guidelines and apparently ...

The volume of new mortgage originations with primary mortgage-insurance coverage held steady during the first quarter of 2015, but there was a noticeable shift toward the government MI programs, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis and ranking. Private mortgage insurers wrote coverage on $45.24 billion of new conventional originations during the first quarter, a 5.3 percent decline from the fourth quarter of last year. But FHA and Veterans Administration loan originations were up over the same period, by 5.5 percent and 6.0 percent, respectively. Based on Ginnie Mae securitization data, the volume of new rural-housing loans insured by the Department of Agriculture fell...[Includes three data charts]