An internal audit found as many as 136 borrowers not living in the properties for which they have obtained FHA-insured reverse mortgages because they were also receiving federal housing assistance under a different address. The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of the Inspector General discovered the anomaly during a follow-up review of HUD’s oversight of the home-equity conversion mortgage program to ensure HECM borrowers comply with residency requirements. A previous audit had red-flagged potential residency violations. In the latest review, auditors analyzed HUD’s data warehouse for single-family mortgages and its public housing information system from April 2011 through March 2014 and identified 159 potential violators of the residency rule. Of those potential violators, 136 were found to be not occupying the properties associated with their HECM loans but, instead, ...

Like all new automated systems, FHA’s Lender Electronic Assessment Portal (LEAP 3.0) was not without technical glitches when the agency rolled it out back in May. Users immediately reported difficulties in certain functions, such as adding new branches, making changes to existing branches and changing cash flow accounts. The FHA ever since has been working to iron out the kinks to allow lenders to submit their annual recertification packages with ease. So far, certain fixes have been implemented allowing lenders to add, edit and delete branch and regional managers, delete attachments uploaded to LEAP and properly update cash flow accounts in the database. The FHA also changed the way lenders edit their principal affiliations in LEAP. In addition, newly approved lenders now have access to the new system. Furthermore, the FHA expanded to 250 the maximum allowable characters lenders may use when ...

President Obama this week released his agenda for creating economic opportunity for millennials, including greater access to mortgage credit through FHA. While the economy has recovered and there has been some improvement in the housing market, millennials are on a much slower pace toward homeownership than previous generations, the president said. Many are in rental housing, ready to become homeowners but are locked out by the tough, restrictive lending environment, he added. Millennials – identified as those born between 1982 and 2004, also known as Generation Y – are finding it harder to purchase homes because of lender overlays, high mortgage insurance premiums and high downpayment requirements. It also has been difficult for anyone with a credit score below 680 to obtain a purchase-mortgage loan. In his agenda, Obama expressed concern over the ...

Ginnie Mae issuance for the first nine months of 2014 totaled $207.5 billion as government-backed purchase-mortgage activity picked up in the third quarter, according to an analysis of agency data. New issuances rose 19.8 percent from the second quarter. FHA loans accounted for $116.9 billion of new Ginnie Mae issuances while VA and the Rural Housing Development funneled $75.9 billion and $14.2 billion, respectively, of new loans into Ginnie Mae pools. Mortgage securities backed by home-equity conversion mortgages are not included. Purchase mortgages totaling $140.6 billion comprised the bulk of new issuances over the nine-month period while the share of refinances totaled $49.8 billion. Modified loans accounted for $17.1 billion. Most of the FHA and VA loans originated during the first nine months came through the ... [ 2 charts ]

FHA to Extend Short Refi Program. The FHA has announced its intent to extend its Short Refinance Program for borrowers in negative equity positions. A mortgagee letter will be issued soon to announce the extension. Feedback Period extended for Draft Servicing Section of Proposed Single Family Handbook. The FHA is extending the comment period for the draft servicing section of the Single Family Housing Policy Handbook through Nov. 14, 2014 to allow stakeholders additional time to study and comment on the proposed section. The original deadline date was Oct. 17. CFPB Updates Reverse Mortgage Guide. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recently updated its reverse mortgage guide on its website to account for recent changes made by the Department of Housing and Urban Development to its Home Equity Conversion Mortgage program. The updated guide highlights new limits to ...

Mortgage lenders delivered $47.82 billion of single-family home loans with private mortgage insurance coverage to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during the third quarter of 2014, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Mortgage Finance. That was up 29.9 percent from the second quarter of this year as the private MIs piggybacked on the surge in purchase-money mortgages securitized by the two government-sponsored enterprises. Private MI coverage was provided on 39.2 percent of purchase loans sold to the GSEs during the third quarter, and the industry has seen its penetration rate of the sector climb steadily. Back in the first quarter of 2013, only 31.3 percent of Fannie/Freddie purchase mortgages had...[Includes two data charts]

Mortgage underwriting standards are relaxing somewhat, according to a new analysis by Inside Mortgage Finance, particularly as production has shifted from a focus on refinances to purchase mortgages. However, underwriting standards are much more stringent than they were before the financial crisis, with few options available for nonprime borrowers. The average credit score on purchase mortgages included...

A recent audit conducted by the Inspector General of the Department of Housing and Urban Development found that servicers earned roughly $428 million over a 19-month period by securitizing modified FHA loans in Ginnie Mae MBS. The way the IG sees it, those profits should go to the FHA’s Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund, which has been below statutorily required levels for several years. At the very least, the IG wants FHA to reduce the $750 per loan incentive payment the agency provides servicers for loan modifications. “FHA does not have...[Includes one data chart]

Industry experts vary on the question of whether Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should change their MBS guaranty pricing, but most agree that the Federal Housing Finance Agency should proceed cautiously and deliberately. At the same time, most industry comment letters on the subject agree that more needs to be done to revive the non-agency market. The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association warned...

Ginnie Mae this week updated investors on recent changes to loan-level disclosures for existing, active single-family MBS as well as future enhancements. Agency officials said investors will be getting additional loan-level and pool-level disclosures over the next couple of months. For example, Ginnie will soon start a record of pool transfer activity, which would include immediate transfers as well as regular transfers of MBS pools. The new pool transfer record will be...