The Department of Housing and Urban Development has requested its inspector general to reconsider certain recommendations intended to toughen safety standards for drinking water in FHA-insured properties. Other lenders or appraisers could interpret imposing stringent requirements on a few FHA lenders wrongly, which could lead to unnecessary water testing simply to avoid future litigation risk, HUD warned in its response to audit findings. HUD disagreed that administrative action is warranted. “Due to potential unintended consequences, [HUD Single Family] does not believe the imposition of sanctions at this time presents a viable alternative,” the department wrote. While making changes to water-safety standards, HUD said it will train lenders and appraisers to ensure compliance with the revised standards. The IG audit came in the wake of a previous audit, which found that ...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is discontinuing its quarterly newsletter, Lender Insight, with the implementation of FHA’s Loan Review System. The change is aimed at improving both FHA’s and lenders’ quality-control and risk-management operations. HUD will be publishing a quarterly Loan Review Summary Report to provide a snapshot of the results of FHA’s quality-control review of mortgage originations over the preceding 12 months. According to HUD, the report will include only underwritten loans that were subject to a post-endorsement technical review. It does not include the results of lenders’ self-reports or any other loans that were reviewed as part of a lender examination, the agency said. The report will show the initial rating of all loans, the updated rating six months from the end of the review period, and a final rating. The “final” rating is subject to change as long as ...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development inspector general praised the agency for ensuring purchasers participating in HUD’s single-family note sales program complied with the terms in their purchase agreements. The inspector general noted, however, the need to improve the requirements in the purchase agreements. The IG found those requirements inadequate due to the lack of formal rules for the note sales program. “If a purchaser chose not to comply with its purchase agreement, HUD lacked assurance that the purchaser would offer homeowners foreclosure avoidance, loan-modification options, and other program requirements,” the IG’s audit report stated. Under the agreement, loan buyers must certify their avoidance of final closure for the required period of time, perform loan modification, and submit quarterly reports on their progress, including results of ...

The Congressional Budget Office recently issued a white paper analyzing options to reduce taxpayer exposure to FHA risk while allowing the program to continue providing affordable credit to first-time homebuyers and low-income borrowers. Although FHA continues to write high-quality, newer books of business, the CBO sees more mortgage borrowers with good credit scores, large downpayments or low debt-to-income ratios shifting to the private mortgage market ...

The Mortgage Bankers Association called on the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Inspector General to help Ginnie Mae strengthen its oversight of nonbanks instead of focusing on “business models and market share.” In a statement following the IG’s release of a report criticizing Ginnie’s supervision of nonbank issuers, the MBA criticized the report for mischaracterizing the role of, and the risks posed by, these companies. Independent mortgage bankers have been...[Includes one data table]

Ginnie Mae’s inadequate response to the rapid increase of nonbank issuers may make it difficult for the agency to identify issuer problems in time to prevent default, warned the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s inspector general in a recent audit report. Specifically, the IG report said the agency failed to implement policies and procedures for managing issuers in a timely manner and tried to supervise them without a written default strategy. Furthermore, the report claimed Ginnie did not promptly assess and address the risks posed by nonbanks. Ginnie Mae questioned the findings, contending it “has done a more than credible job adapting to the new environment” despite the pressure on its resources. Ginnie’s issuer base had changed dramatically over the last couple of years as many banks either left or reduced their exposure in the FHA market for fear of being slapped with a ...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has asked its inspector general for some leeway in making much needed changes to ensure servicers are employing loss mitigation. Responding to an audit, HUD asked the IG to modify some of the recommendations to enable the agency to make policy changes where needed and in a suitable format. HUD also requested that recommendations regarding indemnification and servicing be tweaked so that remedies will be required only when a deficiency is found. The IG audit was based on the result of an analysis, which showed that servicers may not be always evaluating delinquent FHA borrowers for loss mitigation as required and that HUD’s oversight in this area is weak. According to the findings, HUD did not have adequate controls to ensure that servicers of FHA-insured single-family loans properly engaged in ...

Wells Fargo recaptured its crown as the leading VA jumbo securitizer, pushing Penny Mac back to second place even as the market dropped further in the second quarter. The volume of VA jumbo loans securitized during the second quarter declined by 5.2 percent from the prior quarter and by 11.8 percent during the first half of 2017 compared to the same period last year. VA jumbo mortgage originations were off by 4.3 percent from the first quarter, according to an analysis by Inside FHA/VA Lending affiliate Inside Mortgage Finance. Agency-jumbo production sagged in the second quarter but the results were not uniform. Fannie Mae production was up 6.5 percent from the prior quarter, while FHA jumbo securitization gained 7.2 percent during the period. At the same time, VA jumbo securitization was down 5.2 percent to $7.4 billion from $7.8 billion, while Freddie Mac saw a hefty 27.8 percent drop in ... [Charts]

A previously obscure FHA program for properties in designated disaster areas is getting more interest from lenders in the wake of hurricanes Harvey and Irma. According to FHA data, there has been a noticeable increase in loans originated under the FHA 203(h) mortgage insurance program, which is designed specifically for hard-hit homeowners in presidentially declared major disaster areas (PDMDA). Origination under the 203(h) program rose from $17.8 million in 2015 to $64.1 million in 2017, data showed. Use of the 203(h) product spiked in the fourth quarter of 2016, when 180 loans totaling $34.0 million were originated, up from 47 in the previous quarter and 26 loans from the same period in 2015. The U.S. experienced more floods in 2016, 19 in all, than any year on record, according to an analysis by Munich Re, a global reinsurance firm. In post-hurricane guidance, FHA urged lenders to ...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development inspector general recommended administrative actions and monetary penalties against two lenders for allegedly improper origination of FHA loans with restrictive covenants. The HUD IG targeted SecurityNational Mortgage Co. and Venta Financial Group for audit because they were among the top lenders that originated FHA-insured loans with downpayment assistance from the City of Las Vegas. The audits yielded findings similar to those for Evergreen Home Loan, which the IG reviewed last year. The IG audit found that Evergreen Home Loan originated FHA loans with homebuyer downpayment assistance provided under a Las Vegas housing program that contained prohibited legal restrictions on conveyance. During the Evergreen audit, the IG concluded that the agreements used to secure those loans exposed the ...