The FHA has issued new, more permissive loss-mitigation guidelines for Home Equity Conversion Mortgages, including an optional extension for mortgagees when submitting due-and-payable requests. Additionally, the guidelines allow mortgagees to cure a HECM borrower’s taxes and/or insurance defaults as long as the FHA incurs no cost and the mortgagee agrees to refrain from seeking loan assignment for at least three years. The guidelines further remove a previous restriction prohibiting the use of the permissive loss-mitigation options announced in Mortgagee Letter 2015-11 for borrowers in foreclosure. Accordingly, for HECM loans that were in the process of foreclosure prior to the issuance of ML-2015-11, mortgagees may assess those borrowers for a repayment plan in accordance with the mortgagee letter. The repayment plan must have the ...

Cutting back on its FHA business helped reduce JPMorgan Chase’s foreclosure inventory but made it harder for the bank to meet its community reinvestment goals, according to the bank’s top executive. In a letter to shareholders, Jamie Dimon, president/CEO of JPMorgan Chase, said he would rather see the bank no longer service defaulted loans. “If we had our druthers, we would never service a defaulted mortgage again,” he wrote. “We do not want to be in the business of foreclosure because it is exceedingly painful for our customers, and it is difficult, costly and painful to us and our reputation.” Chase has cut back on FHA lending and has reinstated overlays in response to stiff penalties it paid to resolve False Claims Act allegations brought by the federal government. In 2014, Chase agreed to a $614 million settlement with the Department of Justice over allegations of ...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Housing Service (RHS) last week published a final rule revising current regulations regarding lender indemnification, refinancing and qualified mortgage requirements, only to withdraw it later without explanation. The final rule was published in the March 29, 2016, issue of the Federal Register and was withdrawn abruptly on March 31. The RHS’ one-paragraph correction notice said the rule had been “inadvertently published” and, thus, was being recalled. The agency neither elaborated nor returned calls seeking comment. The final rule would expand the RHS’ lender indemnification authority for loss claims in the case of fraud, misrepresentation or noncompliance with applicable loan origination requirements. By taking such action, the RHS aims to improve its ability to manage the risk of its single-family housing guaranteed loan program. In addition, the final rule would ...

The last couple of application reports from the Mortgage Bankers Association have been tepid, but anecdotal evidence suggests that the first quarter – which closed on Thursday – was much better than what many executives were expecting back in early January. Moreover, many mortgage officials interviewed by Inside Mortgage Trends believe that if it weren’t for concerns about the integrated disclosure rule known as TRID, origination volumes would have been ...

Mortgage servicing activities generated stronger profits during the fourth quarter, helping to offset a drop in production-related income, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of corporate earnings releases from a group of 13 major lenders. As a group, the 13 lenders reported $612.9 million in mortgage servicing income for the fourth quarter, up 94.5 percent from the previous three-month period. However, three shops reported losses during ... [Includes one data chart]

United Guaranty, the largest private mortgage insurer in the nation, filed to go public this week, touting its market position, longevity and the strong profits it posted over the past two years. Then again, it’s been a tough market for mortgage-related stocks this year. Overall, United Guaranty hopes to raise $100 million by selling 19.9 percent of the firm, with its parent company, American International Group, retaining the balance while setting the stage for eventual ...

Commercial banks and thrifts reported $153.1 billion in single-family home loan sales by their mortgage-banking operations during the fourth quarter of 2015, a steep 24.8 percent drop from the previous quarter. For the year, secondary market activity was up from 2014 but still relatively sluggish. Depository institution mortgage-banking shops sold $721.2 billion of home mortgages last year, a 19.9 percent increase from 2014. But 2015 was the ... [Includes one data chart]

An estimated 96 million adults in the U.S. are renters who have never had a mortgage, many of whom would seem to be prime targets for first-time homeownership. However, more than half of the renter population is unlikely to receive mortgage financing anytime soon, due to underwriting factors or a preference to remain a renter, according to industry analysts. In a new report, researchers at the Urban Institute’s Housing Finance Policy Center developed ...

Individual borrowers purchasing homes in the era of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s integrated disclosure rule, dubbed TRID, generally seem to be having an improved overall customer experience, despite a few bumps in the road, according to two recent surveys. But the progress for homeowners is coming at the expense of mortgage lenders. A survey from the STRATMOR consultancy found that overall borrower satisfaction is at a multi-year high ...

Bank and thrift holdings of home-equity loans declined by less than 1.0 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015 compared with the previous quarter, according to a new ranking from the Inside Mortgage Finance Bank Mortgage Database. Banks and thrifts held $944.33 billion in home-equity lines of credit, unused HELOC commitments and closed-end second liens in portfolio as of the end of the fourth quarter of 2015, down 0.8 percent from the third quarter ... [Includes one data chart]