Mortgage industry participants are confident that newly confirmed FHA Commissioner Carol Galante will deliver on reforms she committed to in an effort to reach out to Republican critics. Eighteen Senate Republicans veered away from their hardline party colleagues to help Carol Galante secure confirmation of her nomination as the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s chief overseer of the FHA mortgage insurance program and overlord of housing policies. Galante broke through the GOP firewall Dec. 30 after the Senate voted 69 to 24 to approve her nomination. She needed at least 60 votes to ...

Although it is far from settled that the FHA will raise its downpayment threshold from the current 3.5 percent, there is a growing fear among some lenders that Republicans in Congress might push for a 10 percent downpayment. If that happens, said David Lykken, managing partner of Mortgage Banking Solutions, Austin, TX, “it would bring HUD to its knees.” Lykken and others fear that anything north of 5 percent would hammer the market, in particular first-time homebuyers who use the program heavily for purchases as opposed to refinancings. “We need the FHA charter to help first-time buyers,” he said. How much of a downpayment hike certain House GOP members might demand will be ...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is implementing changes to FHA Connection to ensure FHA-approved lenders are providing accurate identification information about their loan officers for better monitoring and supervision. Effective Jan. 28, the FHA will not assign case numbers to lenders if the names and registration numbers of their loan officers under the National Mortgage Licensing System are entered incorrectly into the system. The same requirement applies to lenders registering a new third-party originator (TPO) in the ...

Competition in FHA lending may get a boost following the easing of reporting requirements for insured depository institutions with $500 million or less in total assets. The Department of Housing and Urban Development recently announced a policy change to eliminate a requirement for small supervised lenders and mortgagees to submit internal control and compliance reports under the FHA’s interim financial reporting rules. Independent mortgage companies, regardless of their asset size, are not covered by the exemption. A supervised lender or mortgagee is a financial institution that is a member of ...

Eighteen Republicans gave Carol Galante the benefit of the doubt by helping to confirm her nomination as FHA Commissioner on a 69-24 vote after she promised a series of changes for the beleaguered FHA program. Galante, who had been serving as acting FHA commissioner, garnered enough Republican support to surpass the 60 votes needed to secure Senate approval of her nomination in late December. President Obama nominated her in June 2011 to replace FHA Commissioner David Stevens. In December 2011, the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs approved...

Three important mortgage-related tax provisions worth an estimated $600 billion over five years survived Washington policymakers’ chopping block in the final agreement that averted the “fiscal cliff” of massive automatic tax hikes and spending cuts. However, a new fight between Republicans and Democrats is around the corner over increasing the nation’s debt limit again, and the industry fears it is not out of the woods yet. H.R. 8, the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, which was passed by Congress and signed by President Barack Obama, includes...

A Senate vote on FHA reform legislation appears unlikely unless Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-NV, and Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Johnson, D-SD, find a way to persuade Republican lawmakers to sign off on a House-approved bill before the end of the year, industry sources say. Senate Republicans are poring over the bill, H.R. 4264, the FHA Emergency Fiscal Solvency Act of 2012, which the House passed overwhelmingly 402-7. It is unclear how much Republican support the bill would have if – and when – it is taken to the Senate floor, said one trade group executive. The bill would strengthen the ...

As the wait for the highly anticipated “qualified mortgage” final rule continues, its impact on FHA lending programs remains uncertain. Concerns have been raised over the possibility that the final QM rule the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is finalizing may establish a “safe harbor” for prime loans with a maximum debt-to-income ratio of up to 43 percent. This could have implications for FHA loans, which allow higher back-end ratios under certain circumstances, according to some lenders and industry participants. At what point the DTI ratios will ...

Industry observers are holding out fading hope that Congress will act on time-sensitive mortgage-related bills before the lame-duck session draws to a close, but as the clock winds down, real estate interests are already adjusting their legislative expectations for 2013. At the top of the list of mortgage bills being watched closely is the extension of the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007. The law exempts up to $2 million in mortgage debt forgiven by a lender in a short sale, loan modification or foreclosure from federal taxation. Despite support from both political parties, industry groups and consumer advocates, legislative efforts to renew the act have...

Despite House passage of an immigration bill that would squeeze revenue from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guaranty fees, the measure doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere in the Senate but industry groups remain wary of future attempts to pickpocket the GSEs. Two weeks ago, the House passed H.R. 6429, the STEM Jobs Act of 2012, which would provide visas for qualified workers in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). …