Ginnie Mae is considering lengthening the approval time for transfers of mortgage servicing rights (MSRs) to 90 days or more from the current 30 days but has yet to issue guidance. The agency alerted sellers of MSRs and their investment banking advisors of the forthcoming change in late November at an education summit in Washington, according to a participant, who preferred anonymity. New and existing issuers participated in the event, and a copy of Ginnie Maes presentation was provided to Inside Mortgage Finance, an affiliated publication. Ginnie Mae declined to comment on the report. However, according to the presentation, the reason for ...
VA Lenders Compliance with CFPBs Ability-to-Repay and Qualified Mortgage Rules. Until the Department of Veterans Affairs rule on ATR/QM is in place, all VA lenders must comply with the requirements of the Truth in Lending Act, as established by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureaus ATR/QM rule, according to a recent agency guideline. VA will continue to guarantee all loans made in compliance with existing VA requirements, regardless of their QM status, the agency clarified. It urged lenders to refer to the CFPB guidance to ensure all their VA loans are ...
Ginnie Mae, Japan Sign Joint MOU; Russia Gets Help In Launching First MI. Ginnie Mae is helping Japan and Russia transition from their current secondary mortgage market structures to the U.S. companys model. On Jan. 9, Ginnie Mae and Japan Housing Finance Agency signed a joint memorandum of understanding to exchange information and help Japan create a securities program tailored after Ginnie Maes successful mortgage-backed securities program. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has directed the JHFA to make the transition within three to five years. Under the MOU, the two countries will hold ...
The Department of Housing and Urban Development warned of tougher enforcement against servicers who do not make full use of HUDs loss mitigation tools, as it announced the implementation of a newly revised tiered servicer ranking system. The new system, Tiered Ranking System II, features a new scoring mechanism that would help HUD determine which lenders get higher reimbursement rates on claim expenses based on their servicing performance.
FHA and VA loans backing Ginnie Mae pools in 2013 showed an average mid-range FICO score of 693, lower debt-to-income ratio and an average loan size of $187,268, confirming strict underwriting in both government programs, according to an Inside FHA Lending analysis of Ginnie Mae loan-level disclosures. Issuers securitized $370.4 billion of mortgages with first payment date in 2013 through November. Loan characteristics exclude loans with no information reported.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development has released a final rule defining a qualified mortgage that is insured by the FHA. The final rule will be effective on Jan. 10, 2014. The HUD rule builds off the QM/Ability-to-Repay rule, which the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized earlier this year. The Dodd-Frank Act requires HUD to propose a QM definition that is aligned with the ability-to-repay criteria set out in the Truth in Lending Act and with the agencys mission to ...
More lenders will be able to make mortgage loans to rural homebuyers due to sweeping changes made by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to its single-family home loan guaranty program. Published in the Dec. 9 Federal Register, the changes are part of a broad program overhaul to strengthen rural housing markets, increase the availability of rural home loans and spur the construction of new homes in rural areas. The changes in the interim final rule will take effect on Sept. 1, 2014, and are likely to draw more prospective homebuyers to the program, the agency said. Commenters have until Jan. 8 to ...
Ginnie Mae home mortgage debt outstanding fell by a whisper in the third quarter of 2013 while FHA servicers reported a slight drop in overall delinquencies and an uptick in the foreclosure rate, according to Inside FHA Lendings analysis of government-backed servicing data. As of Sept. 30, Ginnie Maes single-family servicing was down 0.2 percent from the previous quarter but was up 4.1 percent from the same period last year. Ginnie servicers ended the third quarter with $1.35 trillion in servicing outstanding. Although banks continued to dominate Ginnie servicing, the agency has been concerned with the ... [2 charts]
The FHA is working to create a quality-assurance framework with enhanced reporting built around QA results as well as a refined approach to identifying underwriting defects, according to a top agency official. There is much uncertainty in the mortgage market today and one way to address that is to create a clear framework for lenders explaining FHAs view of underwriting defects, how they are defined as well as their consequences, said Charles Coulter, deputy assistant secretary for housing with the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Speaking at the recent Mortgage Bankers Association annual convention, Coulter said the ...
The FHAs effort to reduce its presence in the mortgage market to make room for private capital would be derailed if Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac raised their guaranty fees, warned an agency official. Responding to a question during the Mortgage Bankers Associations annual convention, Charles Coulter, deputy assistant secretary for single-family housing at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, said the FHA is currently priced appropriately and sees no need to further increase mortgage insurance premiums. The FHA has lost about 20 percent of its share of originations after five MIP increases in ...