The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Mortgagee Review Board slapped 157 FHA lenders during the first nine months of 2012 with various administrative actions, including more than $1.7 million in civil money penalties and indemnifications to HUD for paid and potential claim losses totaling $1.25 million. The MRB, which is HUD’s disciplinary arm, took action against the approved lenders from Jan. 1, 2012, to Sept. 30, 2012. According to a notice published in the April 11 Federal Register, the board withdrew the FHA approval of 130 lenders for failing to ...
Supervised small FHA lenders and mortgagees with less than $500 million in consolidated assets would enjoy some cost relief under a regulatory proposal that would exclude them from submitting audited financial statements. Instead, these institutions would only need to submit their unaudited financial regulatory reports, which include bank and credit union call reports, to fulfill their net worth reporting obligations with the Department of Housing and Urban Development. That is the same exclusion the federal banking agencies – the Federal Reserve Board, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., and the National Credit Union Administration – give ...
Private mortgage insurers may soon find themselves required to meet new eligibility standards if they want to continue doing business with the government-sponsored enterprises. In written testimony submitted to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, FHFA Acting Director Edward DeMarco said the FHFA intends to set new criteria for private MI companies in doing business with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The revised private MI standards are among the agency’s priorities in 2013 and is part of the conservatorship strategic plan to ...
Ginnie Mae is seeking feedback from dealers, issuers and investors about whether to continue to maintain two separate mortgage-backed securities programs or to consolidate them under a single security. Comments are also being sought on other possible options. Bloomberg.com recently reported that Ginnie Mae sent out questionnaires to Wall Street broker-dealers for their input on the future of both the Ginnie Mae I and Ginnie Mae II MBS programs. The agency has been considering whether it should merge the programs for some time. The Ginnie Mae I single-issuer pool program with stringent pooling requirements began in ...
The overall delinquency rate among FHA-insured portfolios dropped during the first three months of 2013 while little change was seen in the foreclosure rate quarter over quarter, according to an Inside FHA Lending analysis of FHA data. Top FHA servicer data showed that 15.3 percent of the more than 7.68 million active FHA-insured loans were delinquent as of the end of the first quarter. Although elevated, that percentage was down from the 16.9 percent overall delinquency rate reported by FHA servicers at the end of the fourth quarter last year. The share of FHA-insured mortgages in foreclosure remained flat from quarter to quarter, a sign that the housing crisis may have ... [1 chart]
VA Issues Warning. Loans reported for guaranty more than 60 days after loan closing will be subject to automatic full review, the Department of Veterans Affairs warned. In guidance issued earlier this month, the VA reminded lenders that they must enter guaranty requests in the VA’s webLGY system within 60 days of closing or risk going through another review and additional requirements. If a loan is guaranteed late, the lender must include a brief explanation and a certification that the loan was current when they submitted the file to VA. Timely reporting of loans for VA guaranty ensures ...
House Republicans were unmoved by pleas from HUD to soften the impact of sequestration and criticized the agency for a lack of commitment to fiscal reform.
The federal agency caretaking Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac extended the streamlined refinance program for underwater mortgages at the government-sponsored enterprises for an extra two years, although it remains unclear how much gas is left in the tank. A new analysis of GSE securitization data by Inside Mortgage Finance suggests that activity under the Home Affordable Refinance Program increased by only 1.3 percent during the first quarter of 2013. A total of $69.0 billion of refinance mortgages with loan-to-value ratios exceeding 85 percent were securitized by Fannie and Freddie in the first three months of the year, representing the highest quarterly volume in the evolving program’s four-year history. Most of the increase came...[Includes two data charts]
The latest unofficial nominee purportedly under White House consideration to replace the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s acting head is far from a shoo-in, but industry observers say that Moody’s Analytics’ Chief Economist Mark Zandi is the most credible candidate yet who could not only clear Senate confirmation but also advance final reform of the government-sponsored enterprises. Zandi would neither confirm nor deny to Inside Mortgage Finance this week that he’s being considered by the Obama administration to replace FHFA Acting Director Ed DeMarco as the agency’s permanent director. However, sources say...
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