The relatively low homeownership rate seen after 2008 has been pinned on the burden of student-loan debt, among other factors. It turns out that borrowers with student-loan debt actually have higher homeownership rates than other consumers, according to a working paper published recently by the Federal Reserve. The Fed researchers combed through federal student-loan databases and tax returns, including mortgage-related filings. They found that student-loan debt ...

Though technology has lagged in the nation’s housing and mortgage financing markets compared to other industries, players in those markets are now bridging the gap in response to their customers’ growing demand. Consequently, more mortgage companies are deploying new technologies, changing market dynamics and consumer behavior as well as laying the foundation for future advances, according to a new report from Moody’s Investors Service. The digitization of loan ...

The Department of Veterans Affairs home-loan guaranty program continued to account for most of the growth in the Ginnie Mae servicing business during the first quarter of 2018, a new Inside FHA/VA Lending analysis reveals. Total Ginnie mortgage-backed securities outstanding rose to $1.940 trillion as of the end of March, including multifamily MBS and securities backed by FHA reverse mortgages. Some $1.795 trillion of that amount was traditional single-family mortgages, a 1.1 percent increase from the end of last year. The forward-mortgage Ginnie market grew by 7.3 percent over the past 12 months. The amount of VA loans in Ginnie pools was up 13.1 percent from March 2017, nearing the $600.0 billion mark. By comparison, the FHA segment of the Ginnie market was up 4.7 percent from a year ago, hitting $1.085 trillion. Loan performance generally improved in both the ... [Charts]

Ginnie Mae is considering a tiered rating system to ensure that all participants in its mortgage securities program have sufficient liquidity and capital to meet their counterparty obligations. The agency is still fleshing out the idea of an “A-tier” issuer, which would likely develop into a policy in the near future, said Michael Bright, executive vice president and chief operating officer, during a recent interview with Inside FHA/VA Lending. “An A-tier issuer would be [a company that] has gone above and beyond in helping put together for us a risk management and liquidity plan that does not rely on liquidity providers, and whose defect and cure rates are low,” he explained. Such issuer/servicers also would be well capitalized. Ginnie is developing the metrics for such a system, as well as incentives for the A-tier issuers, Bright said He added that top-rated firms would be eligible for “concierge services” from the ...

The Department of Veterans Affairs recently withdrew a directive that was part of an early disclosure requirement for Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loans just days after the measure took effect. Although the early disclosure measure became effective for IRRRLs closed on or after April 1, 2018, VA’ “Frequently Asked Questions” guidance issued on April 5 clarified some of the earlier provisions and removed a new disclosure to address lender concerns. The current VA Lenders Handbook requires a veteran to sign a statement showing he or she understands the effects of the IRRRL and how long it would take to recoup all closing costs. If the veteran’s monthly payment increases by 20 percent or more, the lender must certify that the borrower qualifies for the new monthly payment. The handbook, however, is unclear as to when the statement and lender certification must be delivered. Consequently, some ...

FHA-insured loans accounted for a modest chunk of mortgage-related consumer complaints submitted to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau last year. According to the CFPB’s annual report on consumer disputes, the bureau received approximately 37,300 mortgage complaints in 2017, 13 percent of which were related to FHA mortgages. Loans with a VA guaranty and FHA-insured reverse mortgages accounted for 4 percent and 2 percent of the complaints, respectively. Conventional home mortgages had the biggest share of mortgage complaints – 48 percent – followed by “other type of mortgage” at 28 percent. Six percent of mortgage complaints were about home-equity loans or home-equity lines of credit. For mortgage complaints, 41 percent involved making payments (such as those involving servicing, escrow accounts and posting of payments), while 37 percent were related to borrowers’ ....

Legislation was introduced this week in the House Financial Services Committee that would strengthen oversight of FHA mortgage servicers to ensure their compliance with the agency’s loss-mitigation requirements. The FHA Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2018 (H.R. 5555) would require the Department of Housing and Urban Development to conduct servicer oversight, including sampling, compliance reviews, and direct information collection from borrowers whose files were sampled. “A decade after the devastating foreclosure crisis, we continue to see significant problems with the servicing of FHA loans that unnecessarily put homeowners at risk of foreclosure,” said Rep. Maxine Waters, D-CA, ranking member on the committee and sponsor of the bill. Waters said her bill would ensure that FHA servicers help families experiencing financial hardships avoid foreclosure so that they can ...

After booking large one-time charges from marking down the carrying value of their deferred tax assets in the fourth quarter, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac likely will post strong earnings for the first quarter of 2018, according to an analysis by Inside MBS & ABS.

Mortgage bankers reported a significant decline in profitability during the fourth quarter of 2017, taking hits on both sides of the business ledger, according to the most recent performance report from the Mortgage Bankers Association. On average, survey participants reported just $389,000 in pretax income during the fourth quarter, a 77.7 percent decline from $1.743 million in the previous three-month period. That knocked annual pretax income down to an average $5.136 million ...

To date, Spencer Stuart, the search firm working to find a successor to Mortgage Bankers Association President and CEO Dave Stevens, has contacted roughly 40 different men and women, according to industry officials who claim to have knowledge of the process. For the most part, MBA wanted to cast a net as wide as possible, approaching current and former members of Congress, trade group officials, lobbyists and senior and veteran industry executives. Included in the initial search ...