The Department of Housing and Urban Development this week republished for comment new proposed changes to lender certification for FHA that would allow for minor lender errors while leaving the door open for government enforcement action under the False Claims Act. The proposed revisions, however, failed to impress mortgage lenders and raised the specter of increased overlays unless HUD makes clear assurances that, barring any significant mistakes, lenders will not be on the hook for millions of dollars for small glitches in the loan certification document. “The language in the certification lacks...
Federal regulators and fair housing advocates are calling for continued vigilance in fair lending with the reappearance of mortgage redlining and loan steering. The return of pre-crisis predatory lending practices, like steering and redlining, pose new challenges to the mortgage industry and to minority communities, which have seen their home equity disappear with the collapse of the housing market, said participants in a fair-lending conference hosted by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Credit scores raise...
Ginnie’s big advantage is that it gets all the FHA and VA loans, while the GSEs so far have not gotten much traction in their reduced-downpayment programs.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s announcement last week that it will increase both the single-family low-income and multifamily low-income purchase goals was met with mixed reaction.In its final housing goals for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for 2015 through 2017, the single-family low-income goal was raised just one percentage point to 24 percent. But some housing industry groups weren’t necessarily happy with the single-family goal. “At 24 percent, the affordable housing goals fall short of what can and should be expected of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,” said Center for Responsible Lending President Mike Calhoun. “These companies have the capacity to reach a greater percentage of lower-wealth, creditworthy households, allowing borrowers to build wealth through homeownership.”
Commercial banks and savings institutions kept increasing their stake in agency mortgage-backed securities during the second quarter of 2015, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS ranking and analysis.
VA originations set a new record in the second quarter of 2015 with lenders funding $39.6 billion in VA loans while FHA continued to ramp up its volume, according to new figures compiled by Inside FHA/VA Lending. The latest production result surpassed VA’s previous record origination total of $37.5 billion in the first quarter of 2013. Lenders attributed the increase to their effort to promote the VA Home Loan Guaranty program through broadcast, print and social media “We are doing all we can every day to promote the VA product,” said one VA lender. “Many veterans are not familiar with the program and they don’t know what’s available to them. They don’t understand what the government is actually doing for them through this VA portal.” The VA program allows 100 percent financing on a 30-year fixed-rate single-family mortgage. VA production in the second quarter jumped 58.2 percent compared to ... [2 charts]
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