Lenders will face higher penalties for violations of agency rules and regulations as the FHA and the Department of Veterans Affairs adjust their respective maximum civil monetary penalties for inflation. The adjustments are mandated by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015, which also requires publication of an interim final rule showing the current and adjusted penalty amounts. Effective June 22, 2016, VA’s maximum civil monetary penalties for false loan guaranty certification increased from $10,000 to $21,563, and from $5,500 to $10,781 for fraudulent claims or statements in any VA program. Comments on the VA interim final rule must be received on or before Aug. 22, 2016. Meanwhile, the FHA also is making inflation adjustments for its maximum civil penalties through an interim final rule that will take effect Aug. 15, 2016, the day before the ...
A new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis reveals that nonbank mortgage lenders have dramatically increased their share of new production over the past two years. Nonbank lenders captured an impressive 48.1 percent share of mortgage originations during the first quarter of 2016, in a database of over 170 lenders. That was up from just 39.1 percent two years ago in early 2014, and 45.2 percent in the first quarter of 2015. While new first-lien origination volume by the 88 banks in the database fell 4.0 percent from the fourth quarter of 2015, the 81 nonbanks managed...[Includes two data tables]
Thanks to last week’s “Brexit” vote in the U.K. interest rates in the U.S. are tumbling again, reaching new lows for the year. In turn, lenders are celebrating the increased flow of applications while the servicing side of their businesses prepares for the worst. For servicers – especially publicly traded companies – there is a palpable fear of deep mortgage servicing rights markdowns that almost certainly will affect second-quarter results. And the timing couldn’t be worse: the rate drop comes with no room left for recovery. The second quarter has ended. Over the past year, several publicly traded mortgage firms – Ocwen, PHH Corp., Stonegate Mortgage and Walter Investment Management Corp., to name a few – have been...
CRT Capital Group has begun winding down its mortgage research division, Sterne Agee CRT, casting a shadow over publicly traded residential stocks and dashing the hopes of any nonbanks that were hoping to pull off an initial public offering this year. As one equities researcher told Inside Mortgage Finance this week: “It’s not fun being a stock analyst these days.” And commenting on the recent – and unexpected – drop in rates, he added: “Some of these firms may get smoked.” Four years ago, Sterne Agee was...
A few weeks back, Walter Investment CEO and vice chairman Denmark Dixon resigned, but was given a $2.25 million cash payment as part of a separation agreement from the company.
Actual repurchases or replacements were substantially below the $541.8 million in buyback requests that were withdrawn by the GSEs during the first quarter…
RSS