The VA Home Loan Guaranty Service is revisiting agency rules on allowable fees and charges veterans pay to obtain a VA loan for possible changes. VA is seeking comments on a proposed rule that would ease current restrictions to put borrowers in a better position to bargain during negotiations for a home purchase. While the current rule continues to protect veterans from incurring unreasonable closing costs as originally intended, some veterans and their representatives have complained that the restrictions weaken their ability to negotiate with sellers and lenders. Compared with a conventional purchase-loan transaction, sellers and lenders find it more difficult to deal with a borrower with a VA loan because they end up bearing many of the customary fees and charges, the VA explained. “The restrictions on fees and charges puts borrowers at a bargaining disadvantage against ...

The Department of Veterans Affairs has issued guidance regarding documentation of allowable fees and charges under the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Truth in Lending Act-Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act Integrated Disclosure Closing Disclosure, or TRID-CD form. Under the guidance, VA lenders must document all allowable fees and charges assessed against the borrower as well as any lender and seller credits on the TRID-CD. VA now requires documentation because it no longer accepts a separate, itemized list of credits and charges, as previously allowed with the HUD-1 form. In completing the closing-cost section of the TRID-CD, fees charged to the veteran must be listed in the “Borrower Paid” column. Lender credits should be listed in the “Paid by Others” column, the agency said. Closing costs that are paid for by either the seller or the lender must be placed in either the ...

The Department of Veterans Affairs has issued new guidelines and instructions for modifying VA-guaranteed mortgages in lieu of previous guidance regarding the agency’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). VA has a long-standing policy of encouraging servicers to work with borrowers to explore all reasonable options to help them keep their home or reduce losses through loss mitigation. The agency requires lenders to consider VA-guaranteed loans for a VA Affordable modification (VAAM) when traditional home-retention options are not feasible. A VAAM allows a new monthly, fixed-rate mortgage payment no greater than 31 percent of the borrower’s monthly gross income. It can cover principal, interest, property taxes, insurance and condominium or homeowner association fees The rate must not exceed the most recent Freddie Mac benchmark rate for ...

Millions of disabled post-9/11 veterans may qualify for a VA-guaranteed home mortgage but the majority are not taking advantage of the program, according to a new report from American Financing. The VA loan is great for injured veterans exiting the military but many are either unaware or uninformed, said Greg Vogel, manager of American Financing in Aurora, CO. Active-duty servicemembers and retired military are entitled to VA housing benefits, including an agency guarantee on their mortgage in lieu of mortgage insurance and no downpayment. A first-time VA borrower pays a 2.15 percent funding fee. Borrowers with a service-connected disability are exempt from paying the fee. “You would expect many of our injured warriors would take advantage of this great loan but that’s not what the numbers indicate,” said Vogel, who left the Army as a disabled vet Tim Byers, a mortgage analyst at ...

The secondary market in agency mortgage servicing rights cooled off in the first quarter of 2017 after a hectic end to 2016, according to an exclusive analysis and ranking by Inside Mortgage Trends. A total of $109.78 billion of agency MSR changed hands during the first three months of the year, down 32.9 percent from the fourth quarter of 2016. Part of that was due to a 26.2 percent decline in new business volume at Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie ... [Includes three data charts]

The problem with the perceived appraiser shortage is not whether VA has enough appraisers but whether there are enough of them in areas where appraisal demands are greater, according to a ranking member of the VA Fee Panel of the Department of Veterans Affairs. As of April 8, 2017, the Fee Panel had 5,006 licensed and certified appraisers working in the eight regional loan centers (RLC) that administer the VA Home Loan Guaranty program, said Kevin Eason, valuation officer with the Denver RLC. Last year, 553 new appraisers were appointed to the panel, whose members accept VA appraisal assignments on a rotating basis. Speaking last week at the annual VA Lenders Conference in Kansas City, MO, Eason noted...

There is a new boss in the Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities market. PennyMac Financial rose to the top of the issuer ranking in the first quarter of 2017 despite a sharp decline in volume, according to a new analysis and ranking by Inside FHA/VA Lending. PennyMac issued $10.78 billion of single-family Ginnie securities during the first three months of the year. The figures in this analysis are based on Ginnie loan-level disclosures, which truncate loan amounts to $1,000 increments. PennyMac’s first-quarter production was off 27.9 percent from the fourth quarter of 2016, a slightly bigger decline than the 24.8 percent drop in overall Ginnie issuance. Even though the firm fared slightly worse than the total market, its first-quarter downturn was less severe than Wells Fargo’s. Wells has been the top Ginnie producer for a long time, as well as the top player in most segments of the ... [ Charts ]

A steep drop in VA-backed securities issuance in the first quarter of 2017 suggests that Ginnie Mae’s efforts to curb serial refinancing of VA loans are working, according to agency officials. Speaking on a panel at the annual VA Lenders Conference in Kansas City, MO, this week, Ginnie executives said that a change in pooling requirements for streamlined refinance mortgages appears to have curbed a destructive appetite for refinancing new VA loans within six months of closing. The practice has caused faster prepayments in Ginnie mortgage-backed securities pools and smaller payouts to investors. VA refi volume fell 42.7 percent from the previous quarter (see chart on page 2), contributing significantly to the 32.2 percent decline in total VA loan securitization during the period. John Getchis, senior vice president at Ginnie Mae, said he does not think the churning trend will continue because the ...

When it comes to selling Ginnie Mae mortgage servicing rights the past two years, it’s been mostly a bear market, but all that may be changing soon. At least that is what sellers and their merger and acquisition advisors hope. Mark Garland, executive vice president of MountainView Financial Solutions, Denver, said that of late, “We have seen a few Ginnie trades go off at a level closer to full value.” Garland told Inside FHA/VA Lending that he expects this trend to continue with prices tightening over the summer “provided rates hold and [prepayment] speeds stay largely in line with expectations.” And if that happens, there could be an increase in the ability of FHA/VA lenders to securitize excess cash flows. But that’s getting a little ahead of the equation. Over the past 24 months, the Ginnie MSR market has been difficult for two reasons: the fear of lawsuits/sanctions tied to FHA lending, and fast ...

The initial material defect rate on sampled FHA loans targeted for a post-endorsement technical review was down in the fourth quarter of 2016 from the previous quarter, according to the FHA’s latest quarterly loan review update. FHA’s Lending Insight reports the material defect rate prior to curing fell to 49 percent in 4Q16 from 53 percent in the previous quarter, based on an analysis of 5,267 sampled FHA loans endorsed between Oct. 1, 2016, and Dec. 31, 2016. Of the loans sampled, 75 percent were purchase-money mortgages; 10 percent were streamlined refinances; 7 percent rate and term refinances, and 8 percent, Home Equity Conversion Mortgage loans. Twenty percent of the sample, 1,081 loans, were conforming while 25 percent, or 1,313 loans, were found to be defective. About 13 percent of the loans were denied endorsement. On the other hand, approximately 41 percent of loans ...