The Department of Justice has had a busy month in terms of False Claims Act enforcement.Eagle Home Mortgage, a subsidiary of Lennar, is under government investigation for its FHA underwriting and quality-control processes – code words for a potential FCA lawsuit. Lennar, a nationwide builder of new homes, disclosed the probe in its annual Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The company said the Department of Justice has subpoenaed its mortgage subsidiary for documents relating to FHA-insured loans originated and sold in previous years. There were no other details. Lennar said Eagle has provided the DOJ with information related to the loans and is cooperating with investigators. “The DOJ has to date not asserted any claim for damages or penalties,” the Miami-based homebuilder said. Meanwhile, in federal district court in Detroit last week, government prosecutors argued with Quicken Loans’ attorney, Jeffrey Morganroth, over a motion to narrow the loan sample the ...
FHA has issued policy waivers related to recent hurricanes and wildfires, including one for loan-level reviews for early-payment default. The agency announced the move as Black Knight reported another 60,000 mortgages becoming seriously delinquent in December because of hurricane-related fallout and other seasonal and calendar-related factors. The early-payment default waiver applies to FHA mortgages in presidentially declared major disaster areas (PDMDA) ravaged by hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria. The hard-hit areas are in Louisiana, Texas, Florida, Georgia, Puerto Rico, South Carolina and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well parts of California that were scorched by recent wildfires. Due to the string of natural disasters, FHA anticipates an increase in EPDs – loans that become 60-day delinquent within the first six payments – in the affected areas. FHA believes that EPDs on loans closed before ...
The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs has reapproved the nomination of Brian Montgomery to lead the FHA even as Democrats reiterated their concerns about the candidate. The committee favorably reported Montgomery’s nomination previously in November by an 18-5 vote. The Senate, however, was unable to confirm the nominee for the post before the end of the legislative year. In order to be considered again for the post, Senate procedures required Montgomery to resubmit his financials and again wait for a full Senate vote. Five Democrat senators on the committee – Ranking Member Sherrod Brown (OH), Elizabeth Warren (MA), Jack Reed (RI), Catherine Cortez Masto (NV), and Brian Schatz (HI) – objected to the Montgomery nomination because they perceived him as “too close” to the mortgage industry. Brown expressed concern about Montgomery’s intention to ...
President Trump this week signed a short-term spending bill that would keep the government operating until Feb. 8, 2018. The bill ended a three-day shutdown after the previous spending authority for most of the government expired at midnight on Jan. 19. However, the threat of another shutdown looms. FHA and Ginnie Mae both had contingency plans in place in case the short-lived shutdown dragged on, as it had in 2013. That event lasted for 16 days, at a loss of $1.6 billion a day to the federal government. Under FHA’s emergency plan, the agency would continue to endorse new single-family forward mortgages, but not Home Equity Conversion Mortgages and Title I loans. Ginnie would reduce staffing to essential personnel but continue its secondary market operations. It would continue to remit timely payment of principal and interest to investors, grant commitment authority and support issuance of ...
Net income per share at Redwood Trust increased in 2017 as the real estate investment trust put an emphasis on expanded-credit mortgages and is poised to further diversify its residential mortgage activities. The real estate investment trust estimated that its net income per share will fall somewhere in the range of $1.57 to $1.63 for 2017, up from $1.54 per share in 2016. The REIT added that its average return on equity will be in the range of 11.6 percent to 12.1 percent in 2017 compared with ...
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