Genworth U.S. Mortgage Insurance has stepped up its competition with the FHA in the home purchase market by announcing reduced rates and the elimination of certain overlays to make it easier for customers to deliver loans through the government-sponsored enterprises’ automatic underwriting systems. Effective on Sept. 16, the credit policy changes closely align Genworth’s requirements with those for loans approved by Fannie Mae’s Desktop Underwriter or Freddie Mac’s Loan Prospector. Specifically, Genworth will expand guidelines for its Simply Underwrite program to enable lenders to offer affordable low-downpayment financing to ...

The Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago has announced a partnership with Ginnie Mae to issue securities guaranteed by the secondary market agency and backed by home loans originated by member financial institutions. The new conduit product, “MPF Government Mortgage-Backed Securities,” provides another secondary mortgage market outlet for lenders originating mortgages insured by the FHA or guaranteed by the VA or the Rural Housing Service. Low-volume lenders that currently lack direct access to the secondary market are expected to benefit from the new FHLBank program. MPF GMBS would allow lenders to ... [1 chart]

The Office of Management and Budget has cleared a proposed rule setting qualified mortgage standards for FHA-insured single-family mortgages for issuance in the coming weeks. The OMB signed off on the proposed standards on Sept. 12 and the Department of Housing and Urban Development has a few more refinements to perform before publishing the proposal for public comment. HUD declined to discuss the contents of the proposed standards or indicate a timetable for a final QM rule. Industry participants, on the other hand, said they would be surprised if ...

The end of the fiscal year is drawing near, which means in a couple of weeks the FHA again will be in the hot seat as Congress, mortgage industry participants and consumer groups pore over the results of the latest fiscal year audit of the FHA’s Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund. This time, stakeholders might find some encouraging data, observers say. The findings of the FY 2012 actuarial review conducted by Integrated Financial Engineering, Inc. brought a lot of heat on the FHA and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, reigniting calls for FHA reforms in the House and the Senate. Reform bills are currently ...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s top internal cop has criticized the department before a congressional panel for its poor oversight of FHA’s single-family programs, particularly in short sales and disposition of real estate-owned properties. Testifying before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, HUD Inspector General David Montoya said the department continues to face challenges in ensuring its single-family programs benefit eligible participants and are not paying improper claims. In a recent review of FHA’s preforeclosure sales program, the IG estimated that ...

Federal housing regulators and Congress may have relied on inaccurate and outdated data while keeping track of FHA loan defaults and identifying potential risk to the FHA insurance fund, according to a report from the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of the Inspector General. The HUD IG said it initiated an audit after observing delayed reporting of default information on loan histories. The OIG performed the audit between November 2012 and July 2013. HUD did not comment on the report.The department requires lenders to report monthly all loans that are 30 days past due. Prompt and accurate reporting provides ...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has issued a final rule aligning its streamlined reporting requirements for small lenders with those of federal banking regulators. HUD’s regulations currently require all supervised lenders and mortgagees, regardless of their asset size, to submit annual audited financial statements as a condition of FHA lender approval and recertification. Federal banking regulators, on the other hand, do not require their “small supervised lenders” to submit audited financial statements, but allow them to submit unaudited financial regulatory reports. Unaudited financial reports include a ...

The decline in refinance mortgage lending that began in early 2013 continued into the third quarter, with refi originations moving to their lowest level in two years. According to a new Inside Mortgage Finance ranking and analysis, refinance mortgage production fell 12.9 percent from the first quarter of 2013 to the second, with an estimated $332.0 billion in new originations for the period. Refinance production has continued to decline since the end of June. Securitization of refinance loans by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae declined...[Includes three data charts]

Banks, investors and their allies opposed to the City of Richmond, CA, using eminent domain to seize underwater mortgages, refinance and repackage them for sale to other investors were scheduled to have their first hearing in court at week’s end. Current investors, through trustees Wells Fargo and Deutsche Bank AG, have sued in U.S. District Court to block the plan. Parties in Wells Fargo Bank, National Association, as Trustee, et al., plaintiffs, vs. City of Richmond, California, a municipality; and Mortgage Resolution Partners LLC, defendants, Case No. CV-13-3663-CRB, were to appear Sept. 12 and Sept. 13, before Judge Charles Breyer of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco. The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce jointly submitted...

The Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago will issue mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by Ginnie Mae and backed by mortgages originated by member financial institutions, the two entities announced jointly this week. The new conduit product, called the MPF Government MBS, is an offshoot of the Chicago Bank’s Mortgage Partnership Finance program. The new product is intended to provide smaller mortgage lenders that lack direct access to the secondary mortgage market another option for their home-buying customers. Lenders will be able to choose whether to retain or release servicing on the government loans they originate with a reliable channel for selling their loans, according to FHLBank of Chicago President Matt Feldman.