Among the myriad of servicing concerns raised by the New York Department of Financial Services in recent months are the relationships between nonbank special servicers and their affiliates. Industry lawyers suggest that few laws specifically address the issue, though the area could see increased regulation and enforcement. In April, Ben Lawsky, superintendent of the NYDFS, expanded his probe of Ocwen Financial to include sales of real estate owned properties ...

Bank and thrift holdings of home-equity loans continued to decline in the first quarter of 2014, according to a new ranking from the Inside Mortgage Finance Bank Mortgage Database. However, HEL lending appears poised to increase, according to industry participants. Banks and thrifts held a total of $1.01 trillion in home-equity lines of credit, HELOC commitments and closed-end second liens at the end of the first quarter of 2014, a 1.1 percent decline ... [Includes one data chart]

The $261.01 million jumbo mortgage-backed security that Shellpoint Partners issued in June 2013 has had 14 loans go 30-days delinquent, four loans go 60-days delinquent, and one loan go 90-days delinquent, according to Kroll Bond Rating Agency. As of May, only three of the loans were 30-days delinquent, with the other once-delinquent mortgages having returned to current status or paid off. KBRA affirmed its ratings of ... [Includes four briefs]

Look for the Republican-controlled House this month to push additional “tax extender” legislation, including a measure to make permanent a tax break for private mortgage insurance, although the Senate will likely defer any action on tax bills stalled until after the November elections. More than six months after a series of tax incentives, including some mortgage-related measures, expired due to Congressional inaction, partisan sniping and a distinct difference in the legislative approaches of House and Senate tax-writing chairmen has contributed to uncertainty within the industry. House, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp, R-MI, has taken...

FHA lenders reported a significant increase in the number of FHA-insured loans originated in April, breaking a downward production spiral that began in the third quarter of last year. Whether this marks a turnaround for the market, however, is uncertain. April closed with $10.3 billion in total FHA originations, up 18.5 percent from March but down 51.7 percent from the same period a year ago. This surge in FHA financing occurred despite the rising costs of obtaining an FHA loans and access-to-credit issues, which have narrowed the gap between FHA and conventional loans with private mortgage insurance. Spring and Fall are the busiest times of year for home sales which might explain the spike, according to real estate agents. FHA fixed-rate mortgages comprised 95 percent of April’s production, with purchase loans accounting for 78 percent of loans originated during the month. FHA lending trends, however, show ... [2 charts]

The FHA has announced new principal limit factors (PLF) for Home Equity Conversion Mortgages along with instructions to lenders to ensure that borrowers and their non-borrowing spouses understand the benefits and disadvantages of a reverse mortgage. The new PLF tables have been wholly revised and now include PLFs for use where the borrower has a non-borrowing spouse younger than age 62. In recent guidance, the FHA urged lenders to ensure that borrowers are provided with an analysis of the cost of a HECM loan and its benefits so that they can decide whether a reverse mortgage would meet their financial needs. Lenders also must advise prospective borrowers and their non-borrowing spouses to consult with a housing counselor whether PLFs below 20 percent may or may not actually improve their financial situation or meet their special needs. “Significant consideration should be given to the ...

The FHA has extended indefinitely the timeframe during which servicers may begin to foreclose on properties with reverse mortgages while it considers possible steps to protect non-borrowing spouses of deceased reverse-mortgage borrowers from outright eviction from their homes. The latest action stemmed from a June 10 court order, which found that current statutory protection for reverse mortgage borrowers against forced eviction and foreclosure extended to their spouses even if the latter is not a co-signer on the note. Non-borrowing spouses of deceased Home Equity Conversion Mortgage borrowers sued in federal district court in Washington, DC, last year to stop foreclosure on their homes and to challenge the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s interpretation of the regulation. Since launching the HECM program, HUD has required that a HECM be ...

Agency issuance of single-family MBS rallied during the second quarter of 2014, offsetting a slump in production of non-agency MBS and non-mortgage ABS, according to a new market analysis by Inside MBS & ABS. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae combined to produce $212.23 billion of single-family MBS during the April-to-June cycle. That was up 13.3 percent from the first three months of 2014, which was the weakest quarter for agency MBS production since the first quarter of 2001. On a year-to-date basis, agency MBS issuance was...[Includes two data charts]

The credit quality of the collateral backing the most active types of structured finance securities is slipping, but remains above pre-credit crisis levels, according to Moody’s Investors Service. In a report issued last week, Moody’s cited several trends that signal the potential for higher credit risk, but the rating service said that many sponsors are building in subordination levels and other structural features that result in higher credit quality. “The degree of weaker underwriting and collateral quality in structured transactions varies...

Securitization, particularly non-agency securitization of subprime and Alt A mortgages, has been widely blamed for the recent financial crisis, although less-studied home-equity loans also may have contributed, according to a government working paper. Results suggested that securitized home-equity loans have higher default risk and produce greater loss severity than similar loans held in portfolio by lenders, according to authors Michael LaCour-Little, a professor of finance at California State University at Fullerton, and Yanan Zhang, a financial economist at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The authors sampled...