Increases in demand on the FHA single-family program are having collateral implications for the integrity of Ginnie Mae’s MBS programs, including the potential for more fraud, warned the Department of Housing and Urban Development inspector general. Testifying during a recent Senate budget hearing, HUD Inspector General David Montoya said Ginnie issuer defaults historically have been infrequent, involving small to moderate-size issuers. “However, major unanticipated issuer defaults beginning in 2009 have led...

DeMarco, by the way, called on Congress to take a “thoughtful” review of the FHA program and Ginnie Mae’s role in housing finance.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development this week unveiled final loan-level and lender-level certifications aimed at easing lender anxiety over potential enforcement actions due to minor errors, but a statement from the Justice Department could put a damper on the new FHA policy. The updated version of FHA’s loan-level certification clarifies that lenders will be held accountable for mistakes that would have prompted a lender to change its decision to approve a loan, not for minor errors. In addition, HUD opened a 30-day comment period for lender-level certification to address stakeholders’ concerns that proposed changes to loan-level certification could weaken the department’s enforcement authority. Lender liability under the federal False Claims Act has been...

California had one of the highest concentrations of FHA refinance loans, which accounted for 42.3 percent of the state’s total FHA business in 2015.

The MSR sale market continues to pick up steam. Last week, IMA came to market with almost $3.70 billion of bulk mortgage servicing deals...

FHA consultant Brian Chappelle of Potomac Partners told IMFnews, “I give FHA credit for trying to solve a problem it didn’t create but the DOJ is the elephant in the room.”

But does this mean the HUD Inspector General and Department of Justice will ease up on suing lenders?

HUD’s Single Family Policy Handbook authorizes lenders to order testing or remediation to ensure that the property’s public-water supply has acceptable levels of contaminants.

The Freddie portfolio includes loans from all 50 states with California receivables having the largest market share at 18.6 percent.

With only a few isolated exceptions, VA and FHA lending was up sharply across the country last year, outstripping the private mortgage insurance business in nearly every state of the U.S., according to a new analysis by Inside FHA/VA Lending. Overall, FHA single-family mortgages securitized by Ginnie Mae increased 60.5 percent from 2014 and VA production was up 39.4 percent. Meanwhile, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac posted a more subdued 26.2 percent increase in privately-insured loan volume. California remained the biggest mortgage market for the FHA, VA and private MIs, as well as uninsured mortgages. The FHA clearly won the mortgage insurance battle, boosting its share of insured loans in the Golden State from 41.1 percent in 2014 to 49.2 percent last year thanks to a whopping 89.8 percent jump in business. California had one of the highest concentrations of ... [ 3 charts ]