Ocwen Financial is preparing to enter a settlement with state regulators similar to the $25 billion national servicing settlement. A person with knowledge of the negotiations said regulators are working on settlements with individual servicers as opposed to the multi-servicer agreement with five banks announced last year. “We look forward to finalizing this process, which we expect will occur very soon,” Ronald Faris, Ocwen’s president and CEO, said last week during an earnings call. The servicer said ...

A unique lawsuit against Morgan Stanley was recently allowed to move forward though legal analysts questioned the ruling. The lawsuit charges Morgan Stanley with racial discrimination, claiming that the investment bank violated the Fair Housing Act by encouraging New Century Financial to offer high-risk mortgages to African-American borrowers. Disparate impact cases typically target originators, but New Century is long out of business. Morgan Stanley was hit with the lawsuit because it was ...

Three non-agency mortgage-backed security trustees filed lawsuits this week against Richmond, CA, which plans to use eminent domain to purchase mortgages with negative equity. The city recently sent letters to servicers and trustees of non-agency MBS offering to purchase 624 mortgages. If the MBS trustees do not sell the loans for the offered price of 80 percent of the current value of the properties, Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin, a member of the Green Party, said the city intends to ...

Carrington Mortgage Services recently reversed its response to a survey regarding accounting for principal forbearance. The servicer initially told Fitch Ratings that it reported all forbearance amounts as losses on modifications and will continue to report forbearance mods as losses at the time of modification. However, near the end of July, Carrington said it has approximately $300 million in principal forbearance amounts that haven’t been reported as losses ... [Includes four briefs]

The question of whether the FHA should allow the refinancing of underwater mortgages seized through eminent domain has reemerged as a key issue following a recent decision by the city of Richmond, CA, to use its authority to take over distressed mortgages for restructuring. There is a new twist to the question, however. Could FHA’s refusal to refinance such mortgages be deemed discriminatory against cities and homeowners if eminent domain programs meet the requirements of the FHA Short Refinance program? Is that tantamount to redlining? A top executive of Mortgage Resolution Partners, which developed the eminent domain strategy to help underwater homeowners at risk of foreclosure, said ...

Continued abuses has caused single-family loan originations to remain a top priority for reviews and targeted audits, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of the Inspector General. A specialized audit program has been developed to target lenders, considering a number of high-risk indicators, the OIG said. Although the agency did not elaborate, it did note Congress’ keen interest in FHA solvency and in eradicating policies and practices that contribute to the agency’s current financial woes. The OIG said it plans to ...

The real estate industry recommended establishing a new FHA condominium program structure to ease the burden on condo projects seeking FHA certification without posing more risk to the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund. Commenting on FHA’s proposal to collect information on the agency’s condominium certification process, a coalition of real estate groups said the current program is too burdensome for condo owners and potential buyers with an FHA-insured mortgage. Comprised of the National Association of Realtors, National Association of Home Builders, Institute of Real Estate Management and the ...

The FHA’s FY 2013 commitment authority for its multifamily programs will run out on Aug. 15, forcing loan applicants to suspend their projects until Congress can approve a new funding commitment for FY 2014. The FHA has informed multifamily, risk share and healthcare program participants that the $25 billion commitment authority allotted by Congress for FY 2013 is nearly gone. The agency said it does not have enough funds for all applications currently in the pipeline. The agency continued to ...

The VA home loan program was up 23.5 percent in the first six months of 2013, although activity slowed by 1.5 percent from the first quarter, according to Inside FHA Lending’s analysis of VA data. The VA reported $74.4 billion in purchase and refinanced loans during the first six months, with refis accounting for 52.9 percent of total volume. The program’s share of the overall mortgage insurance market fell to 22.2 percent in the second quarter from 24.3 percent in the previous quarter. Combining their year-to-date results, the FHA and VA reported a combined ... [1 chart]

HUD Seeks Comment on Proposed Multifamily Rule. The Department of Housing and Urban Development is seeking comment on proposed changes to regulations covering contract rights and obligations of FHA multifamily lenders. When a lender finances multifamily loans through bonds or bond anticipation notes, it uses the FHA insurance claim funds to pay off the remaining bond debts. At times, the claims payments are greater than the remaining bond debts. The proposed rule would require lenders to return to the FHA the excess bond funds that remain after ...