As it curtails the use of the False Claims Act to stop fraud in FHA lending, the Department of Housing and Urban Development is turning to technology to bring enforcement action and hold lenders accountable for harmful business practices, according to attorneys.

President Trump this week directed the Treasury Department, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and other federal agencies to come up with a housing-finance reform plan that includes the government-sponsored enterprises, FHA and Ginnie Mae.

The volume of FHA and VA loans securitized in Ginnie Mae pools declined in 2018, according to an Inside FHA/VA Lending analysis of agency data. [Includes one data chart.]

Many of the loans with lower credit scores and higher debt-to-income ratios that get flagged for manual underwriting under FHA’s revised Technology Open to Approved Lenders (TOTAL) Mortgage Scorecard likely will not get endorsed, analysts said. [Includes one data chart.]

The wholesale-funded broker is slowly penetrating more deeply in government lending, according to a new Inside FHA/VA Lending analysis. [Includes one data chart.]

Carson to Leave HUD After Trump’s First Term; Ginnie Annual Summit Set; Regulators Reject Request for Hearing on Appraisal Threshold; VA Announces Special Relief for Alabama.

In an effort to streamline its lending process, the FHA has scrapped the requirement of a 10-year protection plan for newly constructed single-family homes, according to guidelines released this week.

The use of the VA home-loan guarantee benefits by servicemembers who are first-time homebuyers has increased 110% from 2007 to 2016 in a significant shift from single-family conventional mortgages, according to a recent report by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

FHA lenders can now outsource verification of a borrower’s employment, income and other assets to third-party vendors. The new guidance, which came into effect on Feb. 15, applies to all FHA forward mortgages and Home Equity Conversion Mortgage loans.

The battle among the three main federal housing agencies to attract more borrowers is getting more aggressive, according to the American Enterprise Institute.