Big Four accounting firm Deloitte has paid $149.5 million to the federal government to settle allegations of misconduct in connection with its role as the independent outside auditor of defunct FHA lender Taylor, Bean & Whitaker. The settlement amount includes $115 million in restitution paid to the Department of Housing and Urban Development on Aug. 13, 2018, according to the HUD inspector general. The rest of the payment went to the Department of Justice, which brought the charges on behalf of the government. Deloitte admitted neither to any liability nor to wrongdoing. TBW was an FHA direct endorsement lender and a Ginnie Mae-approved mortgage-backed securities issuer and servicer. It originated, underwrote, acquired and sold mortgages to Freddie Mac and other investors, which used the loans to support MBS issuance or held them as investments. In its heyday, TBW was one of the ...
The Rural Housing Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture has proposed changes to its single-family housing guaranteed loan program to help certain lenders navigate the loss-claim process. Specifically, the RHS proposes to streamline the loss-claim process for lenders that have acquired title to property through voluntary liquidation or foreclosure. Under current rules, when a lender acquires title to a real estate-owned property, the RHS requires the lender to submit a plan to maintain and market the property. Any change to the plan must be approved by RHS. RHS also provides the lender two opportunities to file a loss claim on an REO property: When the property sells during the permissible marketing period, or after the period (typically from nine to 12 months) if the REO property does not sell. The agency proposes to make changes to the loss-claim payment process when a lender acquires ...
House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-TX, unveiled long-awaited legislation on government-sponsored enterprise reform that would enhance Ginnie Mae’s role in the secondary mortgage market. Hensarling referred to the bill – the Bipartisan Housing Reform Act of 2018 – as a “bipartisan compromise housing-reform plan” that preserves the government guarantee in the secondary mortgage market. The chairman collaborated with Rep. John Delaney, D-MD, in crafting the bill, which calls for the repeal of the federal charters of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The bill would shift the secondary market to a system that allows pooling of qualified conventional mortgages backed by government-approved private guarantors with regulated capital. These loans could be pooled in mortgage-backed securities with explicit government guarantees provided by Ginnie. The new MBS program would be ...
Home Equity Conversion Mortgage originations fell dramatically in the second quarter, raising the possibility of a long reverse-mortgage winter in 2018, according to an Inside FHA/VA Lending analysis of HECM data. HECM production fell a whopping 40.9 percent in the second quarter from the previous period. Total HECM originations stood at $8.6 billion by the six-month mark, down 8.3 percent from the prior year. Traditional HECMs, which exclude purchases and refinances, accounted for 80.5 percent of FHA-insured reverse mortgages originated during the first half of 2018. The amount of funds available at loan origination for the first six months totaled $4.7 billion. Analysts blame the low HECM originations on the new lower Principal Limit Factors (PLFs) for HECMs, which became effective in FY 2018. Under the HECM final rule issued last year by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, principal limits [Chart]
The Securities and Exchange Commission levied $16.3 million in penalties against Moody’s Investors Service last week to settle charges involving internal control failures and failures to clearly define and consistently apply credit rating symbols. The bulk of the fine relates to more than 650 non-agency mortgage-backed security ratings issued between 2010 and 2013 that subsequently had to be corrected. Sens. Mark Warner, D-VA, and Mike Rounds ... [Includes four briefs]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau should remove the cap on debt-to-income ratios that applies to certain qualified mortgages, according to a proposal by the Housing Finance Policy Center. Such a move could boost non-agency lending, according to industry analysts. The CFPB is currently assessing whether changes are needed for QM standards, including potentially addressing the so-called government-sponsored enterprise patch. The patch allows mortgages with DTI ratios ...
Former Federal Housing Finance Agency Acting Director Ed DeMarco told us the bill is a good starting point and includes language that both Democrats and Republicans can agree on...
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