Servicing of FHA loans pooled into Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities rose 2.1 percent in the third quarter of 2015. Three megabanks in the top five-servicer tier accounted for a significant share of the market. Ginnie Mae servicers of FHA collateral reported $969.0 billion outstanding at Sept. 30, with Wells Fargo accounting for 27.9 percent of total servicing volume. Wells Fargo, Chase Home Finance (#2) and Bank of America (#5) combined to service 39.3 percent of FHA outstanding as of the end of the quarter. PennyMac Corp. closed the quarter with a $57.7 billion FHA servicing portfolio, good enough for third place and 6.0 percent of the market. Fourth-ranked NationStar Mortgage reported a $53.6 billion servicing portfolio at the end of the ... [ 1 chart ]

Community lenders renewed their call for a further cut in FHA mortgage insurance premiums amid speculation that a healthier FHA insurance fund could lead to another reduction. But analysts are less optimistic about another premium reduction for different reasons. In a letter to FHA Acting Commissioner Edward Golding, the Community Home Lenders Association asked that the annual MIP be reduced to the pre-crisis level of 0.55 percent when FHA’s capital reserve ratio returns to the statutory 2.0 percent level. The call comes less than a month before FHA issues its highly anticipated annual actuarial report on the state of the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund. There is speculation within the mortgage industry that the FY 2015 report will show improved FHA fundamentals, bringing the fund closer or over its statutory 2.0 percent capital reserve ratio. The report is expected to highlight the positive results of a ...

The California Housing Finance Agency is planning to add VA loans to its list of mortgage programs, with an offer of downpayment assistance. Kenneth Giebel, CHFA director of homeownership, said the agency plans to have a VA loan program in place in early 2016 to complement other first-mortgage programs. In addition, the agency is considering adding the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s guaranteed single family home loan program to its current product menu. Currently, the CHFA is working with the California Department of Veterans Affairs (CalVet) in providing home loans to qualified veterans and servicemembers. There are 31 military installations located throughout California, home to nearly 2 million veterans. A CalVet VA loan utilizes a veterans’ or service member’s VA eligibility and provides 100 percent financing. The department also has a Fannie Mae 97 loan-to-value ratio product, which ...

The Department of Veterans Affairs and the FHA have issued guidelines concerning the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure (TRID) rule as it relates to VA- and FHA-backed mortgages. The new TRID rule covers loan applications received on or after Oct. 3, 2015. It replaced Truth-in-Lending-Act disclosures and the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s closing (HUD-1) settlement statement. The rule requires that all covered loans be closed using the new closing disclosure. The VA has announced new closing-disclosure guidelines and a new mandatory method for the stacking order of loan files selected for full-loan review. According to the VA, all files selected for full review on or after Oct. 3 may include the HUD-1 statement. The agency is aware that loans will be requested that have the HUD-1 closing document, and that it will perform the full file review with the ...

A trade association representing large financial institutions has asked the FHA to clarify its policy regarding the use of downpayment assistance programs on home purchases financed with FHA mortgage loans. The differences in the interpretation of the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s inspector general and the FHA of downpayment assistance programs (DAP), especially by state housing finance agencies, has created uncertainty among lenders, according to the Consumer Mortgage Coalition. In a letter to HUD Secretary Julian Castro, the CMC expressed concern that lenders may become unwilling to continue offering loans with assisted financing because of legal uncertainty. “This would be unfortunate for moderate-income borrowers nationwide, and it would unnecessarily limit the ability of [state housing finance agencies] to function,” the group said. SHFAs do not rely on taxpayer funding for ...

During the third quarter, the top 25 lenders accounted for 58.3 percent of total originations.

But the analysts eventually conceded they didn’t have data on borrowers’ assets, income, LTVs and more.

Among other things, Icahn mentions a "changing and potentially punitive regulatory framework..."

First Mortgage Corp., Ontario, CA, this month completed its liquidation, selling its branch network and $6 billion of servicing rights to other firms, and winding down a 44-year-old business that catered to FHA borrowers with lower credit scores. Jean Ziroli-Kobielsky, a recruiter for the family-owned business, noted that it wasn’t fear of regulatory oversight that prompted her father and brother to sell FMC, it was technology: “Some of our technology systems were still using DOS,” she told Inside Mortgage Finance. (DOS, or disk operating system, was the precursor to the Microsoft Windows software line for PCs.) She said...

The younger generation appears ready to take the plunge into the housing market, but finding an affordable home and gaining access to credit remain the top challenges, especially when it comes to African-Americans and Latinos, according to some experts. Mark Fleming, chief economist with First American, sponsor of a housing forum on Capitol Hill this week, said the way mortgage credit is formulated today doesn’t necessarily fit the type of ethnically diverse, millennial borrower of the future. “Ethnically diverse communities tend...