Given the features of the enhanced FHA streamline refinancing product, investors will be focusing on the FHA low mortgage-insurance premium (MIP) pools in the coming months, according to analysts with Barclays Research. Barclay’s analysts estimate that 27 percent of outstanding Ginnie Mae MBS pools are eligible for streamline refinancing, which could translate to $36 billion in new annual Ginnie Mae issuance. Approximately $293.0 billion of Ginnie Mae’s $1 trillion-plus 30-year loan pools were originated before May 2009, analysts said. About 79 percent of the collateral underlying the pools are ...

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau expects to undertake a project to refine and integrate disclosure requirements under the Truth in Lending Act and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act for reverse mortgages to improve consumers’ understanding of the product. The In a recent 231-page study submitted to Congress, the CFPB said consumers are still confused about how reverse mortgages work, despite the required disclosures and industry efforts to educate the public on this type of equity-based lending. The rising-balance and falling-equity nature of reverse mortgages is particularly ....

The Department of Housing and Urban Development said it has received $1.2 billion in recent settlements with large mortgage lenders and servicers but HUD’s internal watchdog, which did much of the legwork in the investigations, reveals a much smaller amount. According to recent audit reports published by HUD’s Office of the Inspector General, only Bank of America and Flagstar Bank have made payments under settlement agreements with HUD and the Department of Justice to resolve government claims. In separate memos to HUD’s Office of General Counsel last month, Kim Randall, director of the HUD OIG Civil Fraud Division, sought clearance to ...

Two lenders lost their approval to underwrite and originate FHA loans under Credit Watch while two others may be ordered to indemnify the Department of Housing and Urban Development for potential losses on several ineligible FHA-insured loans. HUD recently stripped Community Central Mortgage Co. of Mount Clemens, MI, and Strategic Mortgage Co. of Columbus, OH, of their direct endorsement approval because of the exceedingly high default and claim rates of FHA-insured loans they originated in their business areas. The Credit Watch Termination Initiative allows HUD to terminate a direct endorsement agreement with any FHA lender if ...

Endorsements fell in May at the two top FHA shops in the country even as the market’s total production of loans with FHA insurance increased both on a monthly and year-over-year basis, according to Inside FHA Lending’s analysis of FHA data. Wells Fargo, the country’s largest FHA lender, saw its May volume fall 14.6 percent to $1.94 billion from April while second-ranked Quicken Loans saw production fall even farther by 22.5 percent to $1.16 billion over the same period. Year over year, Wells Fargo’s FHA volume fell 5.9 percent in May while for Quicken Loans, the story was different ... (1 chart)

HUD FY 2013 Budget. On June 29, the House approved the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s FY 2013 budget. Although a number of amendments was considered, the funding levels for HUD programs remained unchanged from those passed by the House Appropriations Committee. New commitments under the FHA’s Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund in FY 2013 include $400 million for loan guarantees and $50 million for direct loans. The General and Special Risk Program gets $25 billion for guaranteed loans and $20 million for direct loans. A total of $500 billion for the Ginnie Mae securitization program would be available until ...

Roughly 27 percent of outstanding Ginnie Mae MBS pools are eligible for the FHA’s revised streamline refinancing program, which could translate to $36 billion in new annual Ginnie Mae issuance, according to a report from Barclays Research. Barclays analysts estimated that about $293.0 billion of Ginnie Mae’s $1 trillion-plus 30-year loan pools were originated before May 2009. About 79 percent of the collateral backing these pools are FHA loans, which suggests that as much as $232.0 billion could qualify...

The lure of discount pricing combined with the hassle of tough mortgage underwriting standards appears to be pushing more homebuyers away from mortgage financing and toward all-cash home purchases, the latest Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey results suggest. According to the new HousingPulse data, the share of homebuyers relying on all-cash transactions climbed to a record high 35.2 percent in May. That was up from a 30.7 percent level a year ago and...

A new secondary market policy announced by Wells Fargo last week is sending ripples across the industry and could potentially cause the FHA Streamline Refinance program to falter in the coming weeks. Major FHA lenders have quietly adopted similar policies as FHA refinance volume, fueled by increased streamline refi business, more than doubled over the week. Wells Fargo raised eyebrows by announcing it will do FHA streamline refis only on loans in its own servicing portfolio and will not accept streamline refis from third-party originators. The top FHA producer in the first quarter of 2012 said focusing on ...

FHA lenders may expect new guidance on the use of credit overlays as the Department of Housing and Urban Development expressed concern over lenders imposing additional underwriting beyond what FHA already requires. Acting FHA Commissioner and Assistant Secretary for Housing Carol Galante said there is concern about FHA lenders raising credit score requirements much higher than the agency requires to shield themselves from future liability. She said many lenders are requiring credit scores of 700 or higher, way above the traditional FHA borrower score of 640-650 – a practice that is not prohibited but ...