The paint is still wet on the expanded Home Affordable Refinance Program, but the Obama administration says it is firmly behind efforts by Senate Democrats to expand the program for underwater Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac borrowers even further. Sens. Robert Menendez, D-NJ, and Barbara Boxer, D-CA, are preparing to file legislation that would force Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to waive representations and warranties on new HARP loans regardless of whether the refinance lender serviced the previous mortgage. The forthcoming Responsible Homeowner Refinance Act of 2012 would also prohibit the government...

FHA lenders are anticipating a spike in volume when changes to the FHA Streamline Refinance Program become effective next month. The biggest change to the program taking place on June 11 is the lower upfront mortgage insurance premium, which the Department of Housing and Urban Development had reduced to just 0.01 percent, and the annual MIP, which was lowered to 0.55 percent. The new premium pricing is effective for all streamline refi transactions that are refinancing FHA loans endorsed on or before May 31, 2009. HUD expects the change will ensure that borrowers benefit from a net reduction in their overall mortgage payment and, at the same time, reduce risk to the FHA. The FHA Streamline Refi program allows borrowers with FHA-insured loans who are current on their mortgage to refinance into a new FHA-insured loan without ...

In an effort to aggressively expand the recently retooled Home Affordable Refinance Program, Fannie Mae is encouraging lenders to make the most of HARP 2.0’s looser rules on marketing directly to eligible borrowers. The government-sponsored enterprise created “outreach materials” to help jump-start lenders’ marketing efforts to would-be borrowers who aren’t aware they may qualify for a HARP refinance. “Fannie Mae developed these model ‘HARP Materials’ to facilitate borrower consideration of HARP refinancing options that may be available through participating lenders and servicers...

Inspired by a law currently on the books and in dispute in Chicago, state lawmakers in Illinois have filed a vacant property registration law requiring mortgage holders to keep up homes in foreclosure or face costly fines. The bill, SB 16, outlines a framework for municipalities to pass vacant property ordinances requiring mortgage holders to register a property that has been vacant for more than 30 days and to re-register the property every six months. The mortgage holder would also be required to secure and maintain the property, with fines ranging from $500 to $1,000 per day if the requirements are not met.

Even as the still-regenerating Home Affordable Refinance Program is already proving itself to be a boon for banks’ bottom lines, participants of an exclusive Inside Mortgage Finance webinar last week said so far there’s little indication borrowers are disadvantaged because there are currently fewer new lenders originating HARP 2.0 as same servicers. Since January, one month after the revised program took effect, lenders have reported intense interest and a more significant uptick in new refinance applications.

An independent House investigative agency has recommended the ethics case against the current chairman of the House Financial Services Committee be closed. The Office of Congressional Ethics reportedly informed Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-AL, that it found no evidence he violated insider trading rules in his stock trading activities and that it recommended to the House Ethics Committee that the case be dismissed.

Senate Democrats are drafting legislation to force Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to expand the Home Affordable Refinance Program for underwater borrowers even farther beyond the newly unveiled HARP 2.0. The draft legislation by Sens. Robert Menendez, D-NJ, and Barbara Boxer, D-CA, unveiled last week during a subcommittee hearing would force the GSEs to waive representations and warranties on new HARP loans regardless of whether the refi lender serviced the previous mortgage.

Total fair housing complaints continued to decrease in 2011 from their 20-year peak in 2008, said the National Fair Housing Alliance in an annual report of housing trends, though the group seeks clarification on a number of still-pending regulations. Private fair housing groups, like the NFHA, investigated 65 percent of the 27,092 housing discrimination cases in 2011. Disability and race made up the bulk of complaints. Local statutes prohibiting housing discrimination classes not recognized by federal law, including age, sexual orientation and marital status as the bases for complaints. Most of the complaints...

Mortgage industry officials are urging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to give the industry plenty of time to implement the extensive – and inter-related – changes that are required under the Dodd-Frank Act. Two of the biggest anxieties these days are the rules on “qualified mortgages” and “qualified residential mortgages” being developed by federal regulators. Another is the CFPB project to integrate Truth in Lending Act/Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act mortgage disclosures. In addition to the fact that none of these rules have been made final, there’s a good deal of angst over how they...

The Securities and Exchange Commission gave a thumbs-up last week to some changes to the rules governing the to-be-announced market proposed by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority to increase transparency in agency pass-through MBS transactions. The new changes will institute clear requirements for more timely reporting of two subsets of MBS TBA transactions – those that are “for good delivery” (GD) and those that are “not for good delivery” (NGD) – and include some information that has not been publicly disclosed before. The intent of the changes is to improve the ability of investors to...