Mortgage lenders are more willing to expand the credit box for FHA borrowers, but they appear to be getting more cautious about FHA lending, according to a new Inside FHA/VA Lending analysis of Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities data. Over two thirds of FHA loans securitized in the first nine months of 2015 had credit scores below 700, and 6.2 percent of them had scores of 620 or lower. By comparison, 47.0 percent of VA loans were below 700 and just 4.4 percent were in the lowest category. But FHA lenders became more cautious as the year wore on. In the first quarter, 6.8 percent of FHA loans had scores of 620 or lower. That fell to just 6.0 percent in the third quarter. The FHA purchase-mortgage sector skews even further away from the riskiest borrowers and toward safer ground. The share of FHA purchase loans with scores of 620 or lower fell from 5.8 percent in the first ... [ 2 charts ]
Facing the possibility of a potential False Claims Act lawsuit, PHH Corp. is reconsidering its participation in the FHA mortgage insurance program. Though PHH’s FHA segment represents only 3 percent of its mortgage volume over the past 12 months, the company will proceed cautiously as it evaluates the risk-adjusted return of FHA products and programs, said Glenn Messina, PHH president and chief executive.Ranked 50th among FHA lenders as of June 30, 2015, PHH expects more regulatory challenges in 2016 as well as rising compliance costs, said Messina during a third-quarter earnings call. In its latest quarterly filing, PHH disclosed receiving a subpoena from the inspector general of the Department of Housing and Urban Development for documents related to, among other things, FHA loan origination and underwriting practices. Like several other FHA lenders, PHH is ...