The Department of Housing and Urban Development has issued guidance for servicing FHA-insured mortgages on properties encumbered with a Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) obligation. The PACE guidance establishes servicing policies and procedures that went into effect on Jan. 19, 2017. It applies to all FHA Title II forward mortgages. A PACE loan is a way to finance clean-energy improvements in residential and commercial properties to reduce energy bills and facilitate water and energy conservation. The terms and conditions of a PACE loan may vary among state, local government and programs. Generally, a PACE loan is secured and collected in the same manner as a special tax assessment on the owner’s property. Payments are not made directly to the ...

Setting aside the 25-basis-point FHA premium reduction is a good idea because it would not have done much to expand access to credit anyway, according to researchers at the Urban Institute. In a recent analysis, Laurie Goodman, co-director of UI’s Housing Finance Policy Center, and research associate Bing Bai took a closer look at the FHA pricing adjustment and found that the impact on the market would have been small.The researchers concluded that retaining the current pricing for FHA-insured mortgages would help strengthen the FHA’s financial situation and allow the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund to build its buffer. As one of his final official acts as secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Julian Castro announced a 25-basis-point MIP reduction for most FHA single-family mortgages. The fee change was to take effect on Jan. 27, 2017. Just hours after ...

A day after Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee delayed a vote on some of President Trump’s nominations by refusing to attend a confirmation hearing, Republicans used a parliamentary maneuver to push through a unanimous favorable vote on two of them. Mortgage industry observers were expecting positive votes this week from the committee on the nominations of Steve Mnuchin as the new head of the U.S. Treasury and Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-AL, as the next U.S. Attorney General. However, Democrat members of the committee refused...

The Mortgage Bankers Association this week released an updated proposal to establish multiple privately owned guarantors to promote competition in the marketplace. In the MBA’s blueprint, the guarantors would be organized as privately-owned utilities with a regulated rate of return. “The more market participants that compete...

Republicans Again Introduce Legislation to Change CFPB Leadership Structure to a Board. Republican Sens. Deb Fischer (NE), Ron Johnson (WI) and John Barrasso (WY), recently introduced S. 105, legislation that would replace the CFPB’s single-director leadership structure with a bipartisan, five-member board. ... Cordray Assures CFPB Staff Re: PHH Dispute in October Email. In an Oct. 17, 2016, email to “all hands” at the CFPB, a copy of which was obtained by Inside the CFPB, the agency’s director, Richard Cordray, offered some words of reassurance in light of the decision by the three-judge panel of the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals that found the bureau’s leadership structure was unconstitutional. ...

Treasury Secretary nominee Steven Mnuchin’s recent comments that he’s not a fan of recapitalizing and releasing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and wants to find a “bipartisan solution” to GSE reform has caused speculation about what reform will look like under the Trump administration.The comments, made during his Senate confirmation hearing last week, presented a softer take on housing reform than his earlier comments suggested. Shortly after being ...

With the Trump administration now officially in office, GSE shareholders are optimistic about their cases against Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac being resolved. Investors Unite hosted a call last week during which legal experts weighed in on the outlook for GSE shareholder cases. Plaintiffs have been arguing that a government bailout of the GSEs and the subsequent Treasury sweep were unnecessary and illegal. John Yoo, Heller Professor of Law at the University of California Berkley School of Law, said he thinks the election makes a big difference because it gives an incoming president the opportunity to review the constitutional claims of the last president and decide whether to change them.

The Trump administration is expected to put a temporary freeze on the 25 basis point cut in FHA annual premiums that is scheduled to take effect Jan. 27. One industry source noted: “On Jan. 20, President Trump will be issuing an executive order that freezes all past actions over a certain period of time. The FHA premium reduction gets swept into this.” Sources told...

Legislative reform of the government-sponsored enterprises doesn’t appear to be a high priority for Republican lawmakers, but President-elect Donald Trump’s plans to reduce the corporate tax rate could inadvertently prompt some GSE reform activity, according to industry analysts. As of the end of the third quarter of 2016, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had a combined $53.80 billion in deferred tax assets. The DTAs result from differences between the carrying amounts of existing assets and liabilities under generally accepted accounting principles and their respective tax bases. The DTAs are...

The American Bankers Association sent a letter to the leaders of Congress recently, urging adoption of a bipartisan regulatory relief package that would provide unspecified reform of the CFPB and address an expanded definition of a qualified mortgage. When it comes to the bureau, the ABA urged sensible regulation by restoring “balance to the regulatory process, including Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reform,” and by focusing on promoting both economic growth and safety and soundness. On the QM point, the organization asked lawmakers to “reform mortgage regulations that have raised costs and prevented banks from flexibly serving their customers without enhancing consumer protections or safety and soundness. Most crucially, deeming loans held in portfolio as qualified mortgages will expand safe and ...