Ginnie Mae issuance fell in the first quarter of 2013 but was easily offset by significant gains from a year ago, according to Inside FHA Lending’s analysis of FHA data. Mortgage-backed securities production at the government facility dropped 5.1 percent to $104.1 billion in the first quarter but increased 28.6 percent year-over-year , which was more than enough for an offset. The securities were backed mostly by FHA and VA loans with a combined total of $99.33 billion. Federally guaranteed rural housing loans totaling $4.84 billion were also in the mix. Wells Fargo and Chase Home Finance led the Ginnie Mae market with a combined ... [1 chart]

Ginnie Mae servicing volume was up modest 1.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012 and 9.1 percent higher from the previous year, with some eye-popping increases reported by several servicers. The top servicers of Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities reported $1.31 trillion in government-backed mortgage debt outstanding in the fourth quarter, up from $1.29 trillion from the previous quarter. Wells Fargo led the pack with $407.2 billion after posting gains on a quarterly and year-over-year basis while second-place Bank of America recorded a total of ... [1 chart]

The Department of Housing and Urban Development said it will share information soon on the estimated impact of mandatory, across-the-board spending cuts on HUD/FHA programs and their recipients. A HUD spokesman declined to put a sequestration tag on all affected programs, including FHA, saying details would be available as soon as the department notifies all HUD funding recipients of automatic spending cuts that went into effect last week. The mandatory cuts to defense and discretionary spending kicked in after Congress failed to enact a plan to reduce the deficit by $1.2 trillion over 10 years, as required by ...

Banks with major Ginnie Mae portfolios – and even smaller firms – increased their purchases of delinquent mortgages out of MBS pools in the fourth quarter compared to the third as a way to save money and refinance troubled loans. According to an analysis by Inside FHA Lending, the top 50 Ginnie Mae issuers bought $12.65 billion of problem loans out trusts in fourth quarter compared to $11.17 billion in the third, an increase of 13 percent. “Once you buy the loan it goes into your portfolio,” said Tim Rood, a partner in The Collingwood Group, a Washington-based advisory firm. “You can try to re-perform it and then re-securitize it,” he said. Wells Fargo, the largest Ginnie Mae servicer in the nation with a portfolio of $412 billion, purchased ... [1 chart]

Industry participants who track various FHA data, including Home Equity Conversion Mortgage loans and Neighborhood Watch compare ratios, may have noticed delays in their postings. For example, the latest available data for HECM originations was in September, the end of fiscal year 2012, and no updates have been posted since. David Stevens, president and chief executive officer of the Mortgage Bankers Association, also wondered why Neighborhood Watch was down. He suspected lack of funding. A Department of Housing and Urban Development spokesman explained that the FHA’s reporting timelines and procedures are undergoing ...

NCOA Booklet Required Reading for HECM Borrowers. The National Council on Aging has announced the availability of the 2013 version of “Use Your Home to Stay at Home,”, the official reverse mortgage booklet approved by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The booklet is designed to help older homeowners understands the pros and cons of a reverse mortgage. Federal law requires that all individuals who are considering a reverse mortgage go through pre-counseling by a HUD-approved counseling agency and receive a copy of the NCOA guide. The NCOA also offers other ...

The FHA this week has proposed to set a 95 percent maximum loan-to-value ratio for FHA-insured loans over $625,500, effectively raising the minimum downpayment for jumbo loans from 3.5 percent to 5 percent. In a Feb. 6 Federal Register notice, the FHA said the proposed change is aimed at improving the health of the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund, whose statutory capital reserve ratio has fallen to a precarious level, raising the specter of a taxpayer bailout. Despite steps taken since 2009 to strengthen the MMIF, actuarial reviews of the fund have projected rising levels ...

Although unhappy about the demise of the popular, fixed-rate, standard Home Equity Conversion Mortgage, loan officers are not worried about any long-term adverse effect on their FHA businesses. In fact, members of the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association, support the FHA’s decision, which is a part of a broad effort to strengthen and better manage the risk of the agency’s Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund. They said they have other HECM products to offer in lieu of the standard HECM loan. Beginning April 1, borrowers who choose a fixed interest rate will be limited to ...

Although it is far from settled that the FHA will raise its downpayment threshold from the current 3.5 percent, there is a growing fear among some lenders that Republicans in Congress might push for a 10 percent downpayment. If that happens, said David Lykken, managing partner of Mortgage Banking Solutions, Austin, TX, “it would bring HUD to its knees.” Lykken and others fear that anything north of 5 percent would hammer the market, in particular first-time homebuyers who use the program heavily for purchases as opposed to refinancings. “We need the FHA charter to help first-time buyers,” he said. How much of a downpayment hike certain House GOP members might demand will be ...

Homeowners may seek to stop a non-judicial foreclosure if the lender fails to comply with the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s servicing requirements, according to a California appeals court. In Pfeiffer v. Countrywide Home Loans, the plaintiffs sued to halt foreclosure proceedings that the lender initiated after the FHA mortgage went into defThe complaint alleged that Countrywide failed to provide the borrowers the 30-day advance notice required by the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act or to conduct a face-to-face interview, which HUD requires prior to initiating foreclosure proceedings. In addition to the injunction, the plaintiffs ...