VA Loan Guaranty: New Percentage to Determine Net Value of Collateral. The Department of Veterans Affairs has revised the percentage lenders and mortgage holders in the VA loan guaranty program use in calculating the purchase price of a property that secured a terminated loan. Effective Oct. 8, 2013, the new percentage is 14.95 percent, up from 11.87 percent, which has been in place for the past 12 years. North Carolina Amends Anti-Predatory Lending Law. The Tar Heel State enacted HB 692 on Aug. 23 to strengthen current consumer protections against ...

Although agency originations and refinance activity continued to dominate residential mortgage lending during the second quarter of 2013, a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis and ranking reveals that both those components were losing steam. In fact, the only product category to show growth during the period was the jumbo market, where originations increased by 9.3 percent and reached their highest quarterly volume – an estimated $59 billion – since the third quarter of 2007. On a year-to-date basis, jumbo originations were up 17.7 percent from the first half of last year. Agency production still accounted...[Includes two data charts]

Borrowers are given the option to either make a single, lump sum draw for adjustable and fixed-rate HECMs at closing or within the 12-month period after the loan closing.

Bank of America has once again unloaded a decent-sized chunk of mortgage servicing rights, this time Ginnie Mae product.

Joel Tillett and five other former employees were indicted in May on federal charges they conspired to defraud mortgage lenders by submitting loan applications that contained false information.

With more than two years left to go in the Home Affordable Refinance Program, it remains to be seen how many HARP-eligible loans will ultimately be refinanced as borrower education and lender participation in the program continue to be major challenges, according to a recent report by the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s official watchdog. In its “mid-program assessment,” the FHFA’s Office of Inspector General report noted that since HARP was launched in March 2009 through March 2013, 2.4 million HARP refis have been completed. The HARP 2.0 modifications rolled out in late 2011 and subsequent changes made throughout 2012 and 2013 have “substantially increased” the program’s refi volume, particularly for loans with loan-to-value ratios greater than 105 percent, said the OIG.

The agency watchdog wants HUD to pursue civil remedies against The Lending Company and impose fines for incorrectly certifying that mortgages were eligible for FHA insurance.

HUD eliminated the standard 30-year, fixed-rate HECM in April because the default rate on the loans was about four times that of a non-HECM regular mortgage.

The trend toward private MI is likely to continue in anticipation of the FHA Solvency Act of 2013, which is awaiting action on the Senate floor.

It appears that mortgage bankers are beginning to liberalize, somewhat, the credit scores they're willing to accept on FHA loans.