HUD to host hearing on appraisal bias; bipartisan Senate bill to inform veterans of home loan benefits introduced; USDA updates handbook; Ginnie Mae allows commingling in Platinum pool types; HUD expands funding for loans and grants in its Green and Resilient Retrofit Program; VA reduces premiums for Veterans’ Mortgage Life Insurance program.

Speaking at a recent MISMO summit, FHA Commissioner Julia Gordon said her biggest frustrations at FHA center around technology and procurement.

The court ruled that charging pay-to-pay fees from borrowers who made monthly mortgage payments over the phone violated the Texas Debt Collection Act.

FHA staff had asked HPC whether a repayment plan, an informal forbearance plan or a trial payment plan would be better options for delinquent borrowers rather than a standalone partial claim.

The VA circular came just one day before Congress averted a federal government shutdown with a 45-day continuing resolution.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development can and should do more to help increase the availability of personal property and mortgage loans for manufactured housing, a recent report from the Government Accountability Office said.

Ginnie boosts liquidity for issuers of MBS backed by reverse mortgages; MISMO issues dataset for information exchanges verifying veterans’ benefits eligibility; senior housing wealth grew in the second quarter; RHS extends comment period on proposed manufactured-housing updates.

Government-insured mortgage originations grew across all three lending channels in the second quarter, with brokers gaining market share from the correspondent channel. (Includes data chart.)

Panelists at a Community Home Lenders of America roundtable discussed the challenges in targeting low- to moderate-income borrowers, including first-time and minority homebuyers.

Ginnie Mae officials remain confident that most of its issuers will be ready to comply with new financial eligibility requirements set to go into effect Sept. 30.