The reverse mortgage lending industry urged state regulators to update the existing reverse mortgage examination guidelines (RMEG) to conform to regulatory changes that have occurred in the market in the last three years. The National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association (NRMLA) submitted proposed changes to the Conference of State Bank Supervisors regarding term definitions, examiner checklist, product descriptions, comparison worksheet, mandatory housing counseling, as well as other sections. The CSBS jointly published the ...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development said it will step up its oversight of the department’s loan quality review to ensure that weaknesses, such as those uncovered in a recent internal audit, will not happen again. An audit performed by the agency’s Office of the Inspector General concluded that HUD’s Quality Assurance Division had adequate oversight of lenders’ compliance with FHA underwriting standards but for two loans that apparently eluded reviewers. QAD reviewers are required to ...

Industry trade groups last week gave the Department of Housing and Urban Development another nudge to lift the moratorium on investor participation in the FHA 203(k) property rehabilitation program. Following up on an industry request in June, the Mortgage Bankers Association, the National Association of Realtors and the National Association of Home Builders in a joint letter to HUD reiterated the importance of the 203(k) program in reducing the current real estate-owned (REO) inventory and addressing the oversupply of housing. The groups said the program ...

Liquidity requirements apply only to the required minimum net worth of FHA-approved lenders and mortgagees, not to their total net worth, according to a final rule issued recently by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The rule clarifies language in FHA regulations, which has caused some confusion and anxiety among approved lenders, lawyers and other regulators, said HUD. HUD made clear that the rule simply requires FHA lenders to ...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has issued new rules for qualifying borrowers who list Social Security income on their application for an FHA-insured mortgage loan.The number of FHA borrowers with verified Social Security income is unknown because HUD does not track borrowers’ source of income, according to a department spokesperson. But industry observers said the number may not be significant. Nonetheless, lenders would need to request several important documents from borrowers who would rely on SS income to qualify for an FHA home loan, the new rules state. These documents include ...

As some aggregators scale back or add overlays to their FHA Streamline Refinance mortgage loans, First Mortgage Corp. stands out because of its confident approach to the product. While other lenders impose overlays or charge more for the additional risk, FMC, an FHA-approved direct lender in Ontario, CA, imposes no restrictions on streamline refinancing other than those required by FHA guidelines. “First Mortgage prides itself in serving historically underserved borrowers and so we have a commitment to underwrite loans to FHA guidelines for the most part,” said FMC spokesperson Sharon Magnuson. The FHA streamline refi program allows certain borrowers ...

FHA jumbo activity kicked into high gear in the second quarter of 2012 as originations jumped more than 30 percent from the first quarter, Inside FHA Lending’s analysis of FHA data showed. The volume of FHA loans exceeding $417,000 totaled $6.33 billion in the second quarter, up from $4.78 billion during the first quarter. FHA jumbo production was robust during the first half of the year as the top lenders reported $11.1 billion in total originations, which was 9.1 percent more compared to the same period a year ago. Purchase jumbo loans accounted for ...

$7.5 Million FHA Mortgage Fraud Scheme. The Department of Justice has filed charges against top executives of a real estate brokerage for their participation in a mortgage fraud scheme that may cost the FHA $7.5 million in losses. Indictments were unsealed earlier this month in Manhattan federal court charging Mitchell Cohen and Erin Davis, the owner and sales manager, respectively, of Buy-A-Home, a real estate brokerage business in Queens, NY. The criminal charges follow a civil fraud lawsuit filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York last December against ...

The five servicers participating in the $25.0 billion national servicing settlement have taken vastly different approaches to loss mitigation, according to a report released this week by the Office of Mortgage Settlement Oversight. Short sales dominated early activity and Bank of America, the servicer with the largest obligations under the settlement, accounted for a small amount of initial loan modifications completed by the servicers. Combined, the five servicers granted non-agency borrowers ... [Includes one chart]

Ginnie Mae is reportedly considering increasing its minimum net worth requirement in response to an onslaught of requests by smaller banks for new issuer approvals. Quoting agency officials, reports indicate that Ginnie Mae is being swamped with applications from smaller mortgage lenders seeking authority to issue agency-backed mortgage backed securities. With large aggregators like Bank of America, MetLife and Ally Financial opting out of the correspondent and reverse mortgage businesses, many smaller lenders lost access to the Ginnie Mae program. However, many of these lenders are stepping into the breach on their own or with partners to ...