The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s proposal to remove a key disclosure in a standard HUD/VA form that comes with a residential mortgage closing document is getting flak from the mortgage industry and from some members of Congress. Leading Democrats on the Senate Banking and House Financial Services committees are pushing HUD to reconsider the proposal. They fear the proposed change would make it easier for lenders that have engaged in criminal behavior to re-enter the FHA and VA markets and continue their illegal lending practices. Among other things, HUD’s proposal would eliminate the requirement that FHA lenders certify on each loan application that they are not, or have not recently been, subject to certain charges or penalties. In their letter, Senators Sherrod Brown, D-OH, and Elizabeth Warren, D-MA, and Rep. Maxine Waters, D-CA, urged HUD to ...

A multi-million dollar false claim lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice against Wells Fargo in 2012 appears headed to trial unless both sides agree to renegotiate a settlement. Brought under the federal False Claims Act, the lawsuit has moved on to the discovery phase of the litigation following a failed attempt by the parties to reach a settlement. The DOJ has wielded the FCA effectively in the past couple of years in efforts to recover losses from lenders that allegedly committed loan fraud against the FHA. A string of FCA lawsuits against FHA lenders has resulted in approximately $4.5 billion in recoveries for the government. The 2012 lawsuit alleged that Wells Fargo misled the FHA as to the quality of underwriting on 6,320 FHA-insured loans, which later caused approximately $190 million in losses to the agency’s mortgage insurance fund. Wells Fargo has denied the allegations and maintains that, as a ...

The Federal Home Loan Bank Mortgage Partnership Finance program has announced its first security issuance with a Ginnie Mae guarantee. The $5 million security is backed by home loans originated by community banks and credit unions through the MPF Government MBS product. The Mortgage Bankers Association welcomed the new MBS, seeing it as another opportunity for all lenders to access the capital markets directly, reducing costs and increasing originations. “Many community banks use the FHLB MPF program to sell conventional mortgages into the secondary market,” observed Ron Haynie, senior vice president at the Independent Community Bankers of America. “This expansion in aggregating and securitizing government loans provides community banks with the opportunity to reach more borrowers, especially in rural and small-town markets, and to safely sell those loans to ...

The Federal Home Loan Bank’s Mortgage Partnership Finance (MPF) Program has removed certain barriers to streamline refinancing of government-backed mortgages. Effective on July 6, 2015, the MPF no longer requires minimum FICO score, maximum loan-to-value ratios or appraisals for FHA streamlined refis, VA Interest Rate Reduction Refinance loans and rural housing home loans with a U.S. Department of Agriculture guarantee. The MPF program’s participating financial institutions (PFIs) may now originate and underwrite streamline refis based solely on the requirements of the FHA, VA or the USDA’s Rural Housing Service. The program currently requires borrower and co-borrower income for government loan streamline refis for the purpose of loan presentment. “Presentment” refers to the right to require a lender to demand payment of amounts ...

The mortgage market cranked up new originations significantly during the second quarter of 2015, lifting production to its highest level in nearly two years, according to a new analysis and ranking by Inside Mortgage Finance. Lenders produced an estimated $445 billion of first-lien single-family mortgages during the second quarter, an increase of 23.6 percent over the first three months of 2015. It marked the strongest origination volume since the second quarter of 2013, when the industry was in the middle of a refinance boom that generated over $2 trillion in new production over a 12-month period. The party this time around doesn’t look...[Includes two data tables]

Ginnie Mae issuance of government-insured mortgage-backed securities rose a whopping 47.3 percent in the second quarter of 2015 from the previous quarter, powered by a robust FHA refinancing volume, according to an Inside FHA/VA Lending analysis of agency data. Government-backed Ginnie MBS production in the second quarter totaled $117.5 billion, up from $79.8 billion in the prior quarter. Volume year-to-date also increased by 57.7 percent from the first six months of last year. From May to June, government-backed securitization increased a modest 2.9 percent. FHA loans comprised 62.6 percent of Ginnie MBS issuance in the second quarter while VA accounted for 33.7 percent. Securitized loans with a Rural Housing Service guaranty represented 3.6 percent of total Ginnie MBS issuance during the period. FHA loan securitization was robust in the second quarter, as volume ... [ Charts ]

Rising home values could present a new opportunity for FHA borrowers to refinance into a conventional loan and enable those borrowers who choose to stay with FHA financing to take advantage of FHA’s reduced annual mortgage insurance premium, according to lenders. With house prices on the rise, FHA borrowers are seeing a build-up in equity. This might be a good time for them to remove that monthly payment and get out of their FHA loan, said Faramaz Moeen-Ziai, vice president of national sales and production at Commerce Home Mortgage in Huntington, CA. With an FHA-insured loan, coverage is for the life of the loan while private mortgage insurance on a conventional is cancellable when paid down to 79 percent of the loan amount. This might be especially beneficial to homeowners living in homes valued far less than what they owe on the property, or to holders of ...

The Department of Veterans Affairs has issued guidance to servicers regarding the use of an auction service in lieu of a foreclosure sale to terminate a VA loan. The goal is to get more from foreclosure-sale proceeds to lower the veteran’s mortgage debt. Mortgage holders may find it better to pursue VA loan termination through an auction service, rather than having to waive a greater amount at foreclosure, the VA said. It also may raise awareness among potential bidders and increase marketability and competition, the agency said. While traditional foreclosure methods have long been a part of the loan termination process, they limit servicers’ chances of obtaining greater proceeds at sale, which are applied to lower the veteran’s debt. Consequently, VA ends up paying more for a claim and assuming the liability of managing and marketing a conveyed real estate-owned property. In addition, state and county ...

Industry experts are sharply divided on whether the FHA’s financial condition is actually getting better or worse. Potomac Partners, a business consultancy group, is optimistic that the FHA’s Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund has finally turned a corner with great signs of improvement in the first quarter of 2015. Changes and adjustments made by the Department of Housing and Urban Development since last year have placed the MMI Fund on a positive trajectory to reach its required 2.0 percent capital ratio in 2016. Last year, the fund’s capital ratio improved from a negative 0.11 percent to a positive 0.41 percent and its economic value appears to be improving. Potomac Partners’ analysis looked at FHA risk, loan performance, delinquency rates, debt-to-income ratios, loan-to-value ratios, originations and claims, loss rates as well the effect of the ...

The Department of Veterans Affairs has announced measures lenders may employ to provide relief to VA borrowers whose lives and homes were upended by recent severe storms, tornados and flooding in Texas, Oklahoma and Guam. VA mortgage relief would be available to the families of borrowers who died during these natural catastrophes and to borrowers whose homes were badly damaged or destroyed. Relief is also available to those whose work environments were destroyed or severely damaged. Other people have been indirectly affected as well, and the impact may continue to ripple throughout the country, as evacuees travel nationwide to seek support and shelter from family members in unaffected areas, according to the VA. VA encourages holders of guaranteed loans to extend forbearance to distressed borrowers and to provide counseling to them. Lenders are also authorized under VA regulations to reapply prepayments to ...