Legislation that would provide the FHA with tools to strengthen its finances and ensure its long-term solvency has been reintroduced in the House of Representatives. It is uncertain whether Republican leaders, given their concerns, would be willing to take up the Democrat-sponsored bill. The bill, the FHA Emergency Fiscal Solvency Act, would give the FHA more flexibility to take action against lenders that show excessive early default and claims rates. It would also authorize the FHA to require a mortgagee to indemnify the agency for improperly written loans. The bill’s co-sponsors, Rep. Maxine Waters, D-CA, and Rep. Michael Capuano, D-MA, hope for ...

The mortgage banking industry is backing a proposal by the Department of Housing and Urban Development to reduce the loan-to-value ratio on FHA-insured mortgage loans over $625,500 from 96.5 percent to 95 percent. In effect, the proposal would raise the minimum downpayment on FHA-insured jumbo loans from 3.5 percent to 5 percent. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, the proposal would help return FHA to its historical core mission of providing first-time, minority and low- and moderate-income homebuyers access to affordable mortgage credit. The proposal is also designed to encourage the return of ...

Streamline refinancing helped boost FHA origination volume as lenders reported substantial increases on monthly and year-over-year bases, according to Inside FHA Lending’s latest analysis of FHA data. Despite increases in mortgage insurance premium and other policy changes aimed at reducing FHA market share and strengthening the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund, FHA endorsements were up 18.7 percent in January 2013 from December 2012, and a hefty 38.7 percent from January last year. However, FHA refis accounted for 54.3 percent of total production while purchase mortgages made up ... [1 chart]

Ginnie Mae servicing volume was up modest 1.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012 and 9.1 percent higher from the previous year, with some eye-popping increases reported by several servicers. The top servicers of Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities reported $1.31 trillion in government-backed mortgage debt outstanding in the fourth quarter, up from $1.29 trillion from the previous quarter. Wells Fargo led the pack with $407.2 billion after posting gains on a quarterly and year-over-year basis while second-place Bank of America recorded a total of ... [1 chart]

Some underwriters in the private mortgage insurance space are rolling out new technology in their efforts to reacquire market share lost to the FHA even as market tidal forces continue to shift in favor of private MIs. Radian Guaranty, a subsidiary of Radian Group, has introduced its MI rate finder application, Radian Rates, for Android smart phone devices on Google Play. Designed as a mobile version of the company’s existing online rate finder, Radian Rates checks eligibility, compares options and automatically calculates the MI rate depending on the ...

Last summer, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued an advisory concerning warehouse lines of credit that was all but ignored by most players in the market. That is, until now. In a research note, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods said the “new” OCC rules could force Texas Capi-tal Bank to increase the risk weighting of its warehouse lines to 100 percent, from its current designa-tion of 37 percent.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and spending a ton of money each year on outside contractors, including technology firms, attorneys and accountants.

Although it expects to report “significant net income” for both the final three months and the full year 2012, Fannie Mae announced late this week that it will delay its earnings release while the GSE’s accountants continue to crunch numbers to determine if the company should take a lucrative but complex tax deduction. In a form 12b-25 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Fannie requested a filing extension beyond its March 18 deadline because it needs more time to analyze its deferred tax assets, which are unused credits and deductions that can be used to cover future tax bills.“The release of the valuation allowance would have a material impact on the company’s 2012 financial statements and result in a significant dividend payment to the U.S. Treasury,” noted Fannie in its SEC filing.

Banks and thrifts reported a sharp increase in the volume of home loans sold in their mortgage banking operations last year, hitting the highest level since 2009, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of bank call report data. Mortgage banking units generated $1.553 trillion in loan sales during 2012, a 36.9 percent jump from the previous year. Activity peaked at $417.1 billion in the fourth quarter, a 3.9 percent increase over the third quarter. Some double counting ... [Includes one data chart]

The hundreds of billions of dollars – perhaps trillions of dollars – in recent and upcoming mortgage servicing acquisitions include significant regulatory risks, according to industry lawyers. Concerns include increased attention from regulators, outstanding liabilities and state licensing requirements. Up to $1.5 trillion in servicing could be transferred in the next two years, mostly from depository institutions to nonbanks, according to industry analysts. Most of the large banks are actively ...