The Trump White House was slated to nominate mortgage banker David Kittle to head the agency but back in November he grew tired of waiting and withdrew his name from consideration.
Galante is a former FHA commissioner who presently serves as faculty director of the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at the University of California Berkeley. She also sits on the board of Ocwen Financial.
The agency – which still doesn’t have a permanent president – issued $443.2 billion of MBS backed by forward single-family mortgages in 2017, a 10.8 percent decline from the previous year.
The Department of Veterans Affairs and Ginnie Mae are ramping up efforts in 2018 to curb serial refinancing, including long-term solutions, increased portfolio monitoring and protection for veterans against predatory lending practices.
Ginnie Mae set records for new issuance of single-family mortgage-backed securities in 2015 and 2016, but production sagged last year, according to a new analysis and ranking by Inside FHA/VA Lending. The agency issued $443.20 billion of MBS backed by forward single-family mortgages in 2017, a 10.8 percent decline from the previous year. Including FHA reverse mortgages and that are not truncated, 2017 issuance fell 10.3 percent to $455.00 billion. Meanwhile, the private mortgage insurance business – based on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac MBS data – saw a smaller decline of 5.0 percent from 2016 to last year. The VA program generally held up better than the FHA program during the fourth quarter, when refinance lending was climbing. But the FHA had a better year overall despite some loss of market share in purchase-mortgage activity. Deliveries of FHA loans into ... [ Charts ]
Senate lawmakers this week introduced bipartisan legislation to protect veterans and servicemembers from predatory refinancing schemes. Introduced by Sens. Tom Tillis, R-NC, and Elizabeth Warren, D-MA, the bill would require lenders offering streamline or cash-out refinancing to demonstrate a material benefit to veterans with a VA loan. The Protecting Veterans from Predatory Lending Act reflects measures Jeffrey London, director of VA’s Loan Guaranty Service, talked about when he testified during a hearing on loan churning before the House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity (See next story.) Prior to submitting a refi loan for a VA guarantee, a lender would be required to certify that all fees associated with the transaction would be recouped by the veteran through lower monthly payments within 36 months. Such fees would include closing costs and any expenses other than ...
Ginnie Mae and the Department of Veterans Affairs have announced additional measures to curb serial refinancing of VA loans. Testifying before a House Veterans Affairs subcommittee this week, officials from both agencies said the latest measures will complement guidelines Ginnie issued last year to deal with the loan-churning problem. Lenders urged Congress and the two agencies to be cautious in prescribing fixes that could potentially cut off VA funding. Jeffrey London, director of the VA Loan Guaranty Service, said a proposed rule that includes a net tangible benefits test for veterans as well as seasoning and recoupment requirements will be issued soon. The VA is also planning to require upfront lender disclosure of the terms and benefits of a streamline or cash-out refi, including the recoupment period of the new transaction. Even though serial refinancing is not systemic to the VA portfolio, it has grown in ...
2018 might not turn out to be a record-breaking production year for FHA and VA, but it could become significant in terms of enforcement and housing finance reform, according to industry stakeholders. Ed Pinto, codirector of the American Enterprise Institute’s International Center on Housing Risk, expects a slight increase in FHA’s and VA’s mortgage unit production and stronger dollar volumes due to rising house prices. Pinto believes loose purchase lending, particularly by FHA, and declining housing inventory are driving housing prices. This in turn results in FHA/VA cash-out refinancing at very high loan-to-value ratios, which helps feed the general economy but makes FHA lending riskier, he said. “We see a stronger demand for housing amid constrained housing supply,” said Pinto. “We’re seeing this vicious cycle of purchase transactions becoming more risky, cash-out transactions increasing in ...
A former FHA commissioner’s proposal to restructure FHA as part of broader housing-finance reform has received mixed responses from industry stakeholders and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. While participants in a recent panel discussion hosted by the Urban Institute praised the proposal, they admitted to still being unsure about FHA’s role in a revamped world of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and a single mortgage-backed security. The recommendation for a reconstituted FHA is part of a paper presented for debate at the Urban Institute this week by Carol Galante, faculty director of the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at the University of California Berkeley, and former head of FHA during the second Obama administration. Under Galante’s proposal, all of FHA’s mortgage insurance programs would remain with the agency while rental assistance and other ...
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