With industry and lawmakers focused on the confirmation hearing next week of President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Department of Housing and Urban Development, speculation as to who might become Dr. Ben Carson’s top deputy and FHA commissioner has apparently eased. After weeks of speculation, the list for HUD deputy secretary is down to three rumored contenders: Brian Montgomery, former assistant secretary and FHA commissioner; Pam Patenaude, president of the J. Ronald Terwilliger Foundation for Housing America’s Families; and Rick Lazio, a former congressman from New York and a housing finance attorney. Like Montgomery, Patenaude has experience at HUD, serving as assistant deputy secretary for field policy and management. She has extensive experience in housing as an executive vice president at Urban Land Institute and director of housing policy with the ...

United Shore Financial Services of Troy, MI, has agreed to pay $48 million to resolve allegations of FHA-related fraud, adding to the more than $7 billion in settlements and judgments the Department of Justice has collected since 2009. United Shore, parent company of United Wholesale Mortgage and Shore Mortgage, was accused of improperly originating mortgages and falsely certifying compliance with FHA requirements. Originated between Jan. 1, 2006, and Dec. 31, 2011, the loans eventually turned bad, resulting in significant losses to the FHA insurance fund. The complaint did not specify the number and total amount of the bad loans United Shore originated or the size of FHA’s losses on those loans. United Shore was charged with violation of the False Claims Act, becoming the latest financial institution to join a growing list of FHA lenders that have opted to settle, rather than litigate, ...

VA Extends Making Home Affordable Program. The Department of Veterans Affairs has extended the Making Home Affordable program to Oct. 1, 2017. The program was set to expire on Jan. 1, 2017. USDA Approves NewFed Mortgage to originate Section 52 Guaranteed Rural Housing Loans. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has approved NewFed Mortgage Corp., a multi-state residential mortgage lender, to originate USDA loans. Based in Danvers, MA, retailer NewFed offers FHA, VA, USDA, conventional and jumbo mortgage products. Reviews Genworth Financial’s Proposed Sale to Chinese Conglomerate. Fannie Mae has approved Arch Capital’s acquisition of ...

President-elect Donald Trump wants to improve access to credit. A cut in FHA premiums would presumably help...

Through the first nine months of 2016 the HECM volume leaders were American Advisors Group, One Reverse Mortgage and Reverse Mortgage Funding.

The agency said 108,875 homeowners avoided foreclosure after seeking assistance from a HUD housing counselor.

But if you think that Wells Fargo will pull a “BofA” and quietly downshift its presence in mortgages, think again.

In the third quarter, the top FHA rehab were Prospect Mortgage, Movement Mortgage and Wells Fargo.

PHH said it will subservice the loans for New Residential "for an initial period of three years, subject to certain termination provisions."

DOJ notes that although the lender’s internal quality control reviews “showed severe problems with FHA insured mortgages, USFS routinely failed to provide any meaningful information to senior management…”