Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-IA, chairman of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, has asked the Department of Housing and Urban Development to explain the duties and functions of two officials who were appointed as “principal deputy assistant secretary.” The appointments make it appear that HUD is deliberately circumventing the nomination process by creating new official titles for appointees without obtaining Senate confirmation, said Grassley. If that is the case, HUD Secretary Julian Castro may be in violation of the Vacancies Reform Act of 1998, the lawmaker warned. The statute provides several mechanisms to fill job positions that require candidates to be nominated by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. “The Vacancies Act also declares that those mechanisms are the exclusive means of filling vacancies,” Grassley said. “Creating new job titles is not ...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is requiring servicers of FHA-insured mortgages to delay foreclosure for a year and to evaluate all borrowers for the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) and other similar loss-mitigation programs. The move is one of the improvements to the FHA Distressed Asset Stabilization Program, a direct-sale pilot program that allows pools of foreclosure-bound mortgages to be sold to qualified bidders. Bidders are encouraged to work with borrowers to help cure the loan – a less costly alternative to foreclosure or an REO (real estate-owned) sale. An FHA servicer can place a troubled loan into a DASP pool if the borrower is at least six months delinquent on their mortgage and the servicer has exhausted all FHA loss-mitigation options. Previously, servicers could foreclose six months after they received the loan. They were also encouraged, though not required, to ...

The FHA has automated the delivery of notices to targeted lenders that receive an “unacceptable” rating following a post-endorsement review of a sample of their FHA-insured mortgage loans. The agency’s notification process shifted from manual to electronic effective on April 27, with the deployment of a new automated system for delivering notices of unacceptable findings, or eFindings letter. The change speeds up the process of determining whether a direct-endorsement lender should be subject to an indemnification request from FHA because of faulty underwriting. The enhanced delivery process will make it easier for lenders to do business with the FHA, the agency said. The post-endorsement audit is crucial to the success of the FHA’s direct-endorsement program. The FHA performs a post-endorsement technical review (PETR) on selected cases to evaluate the risk loans pose to ...

Mortgage brokers accounted for almost 13 percent of originations packaged into Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac securities in the first quarter of 2015, one of the highest readings in quite some time, according to loan-level data compiled by Inside Mortgage Finance. In the fourth quarter, the broker market share was 10.0 percent, a figure that includes originations of all loan types and not just ones packaged into securities. Over the past several quarters, there has been...

The CFPB brought an enforcement action against RMK Financial Corp., a California-based mortgage lender, for allegedly using deceptive mortgage advertising practices, including ads that led consumers to believe that the company was affiliated with the U.S. government. According to the CFPB, RMK used the names and logos of the Department of Veterans Affairs and the FHA in mailed advertisements in such a way as to falsely imply that the ads were sent by the VA or FHA, or that the company or the mortgage products it advertised were endorsed or sponsored by those agencies. RMK’s ads also allegedly misrepresented the loans’ interest rates and estimated monthly payments, including whether the interest rate was fixed or variable. Consumers who called the ...

The FHA is urging 203(k) program lenders and consultants to be aware of key policy revisions when reviewing the published versions of the 203(k) Rehabilitation Mortgage Insurance Program and 203(k) Consultant Requirements in the new Single-Family Housing Policy Handbook. The revised policies include changes to reflect a clearer, more direct and consistent language and terminology. However, they do not represent a significant departure from 203(k) origination policies or ...

1st Alliance Lending of East Hartford, CT, has announced a new multi-channel lending platform to help underwater homeowners refinance into affordable government-backed mortgages and help those who have lost their homes previously in bankruptcy obtain a new mortgage. The platform focuses mainly on the FHA Short Refi program and the agency’s “Back to Work – Extenuating Circumstances” program. The multi-channel platform adds a wholesale channel to ...

New Standards for VA Compliance Inspectors. The Department of Veterans Affairs announced that compliance inspectors must adhere to new qualifications and pass an updated, more comprehensive exam that includes information relevant to Specially Adapted Housing. Policy staff decided the current exam was not effective since it did not address issues such as SAH-specific building practices, procedures, and minimum property requirements ... [Includes two briefs]

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac issued a robust $189.92 billion of single-family mortgage-backed securities during the first three months of 2015, according to a new Inside The GSEs analysis.Business in the GSEs’ core MBS guaranty program grew 5.9 percent from the fourth quarter of last year. The pace in early 2015 was up a hefty 47.0 percent from the same period last year, which was the weakest quarter in over a decade. Nonbank seller/servicers continued to gain market share. These companies accounted for 45.6 percent of GSE MBS issued in early 2015, and their total production was up 7.7 percent from the previous quarter. (Includes 2 exclusive charts).

At least three years have passed since Bank of America stopped selling new purchase-money loans into Fannie Mae securities, a drought that has benefitted at least one party: Freddie Mac. According to new figures compiled by Inside MBS & ABS, in the first quarter of 2015 BofA sold $9.57 billion of mortgages into Freddie securities, beating out Wells Fargo ($8.194 billion), which traditionally has ranked first in sales to both government-sponsored enterprises. Then again, there is...