FHA lenders think the new Loan Review System is a “modern and streamlined system” that is less user-friendly than Neighborhood Watch, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. In a letter to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the MBA called on the FHA to continue its ongoing discussion with lenders and other industry stakeholders on how the improve the LRS and its response timelines. Implemented last May, the LRS is an electronic platform for monitoring and reviewing the quality of single-family mortgages that FHA has insured. It replaced the post-endorsement technical review performed by the FHA Connection/Underwriting Review System (URS), review functions for post-closing test cases submitted by direct endorsement lenders, and lender self-reporting functions in Neighborhood Watch. The LRS also includes a defect taxonomy, which features a list of ...
Targeted reform of the FHA housing program, not broad structural changes, can potentially improve borrowers’ access to credit while clarifying the rules for lenders and protecting taxpayers, a top industry executive told Congress earlier this month. Testifying before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance, David Stevens, president and CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association, said FHA reforms do not entail changes to the program’s scope, such as FHA market share or its customer base. Stevens noted that first time or low- to moderate-income borrowers are typical FHA borrowers. “The structure and coverage of FHA insurance has served borrowers and lenders well,” he said. “It should not be reduced or otherwise altered.” The Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund capital ratios and thresholds are likewise appropriate, though options to improve the fund’s long-term solvency should ...
As the mortgage industry prepares for a substantially expanded Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data collection and reporting environment from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, compliance experts are getting a clearer sense of some of the biggest challenges lenders will face – most notably on the technology front as well as fair lending scrutiny.
A handful of mortgage executives have suggested to us that trade groups are overreacting to the GOP’s tax overhaul plan and the way it treats the mortgage interest deduction...
According to Wallison: “There is nothing about the way the government has managed the housing finance system for the last 50 years that would remotely recommend a continuing government role.”
Tuesday’s panel discussion has been dubbed the “think tank” hearing because it includes representatives from the Urban Institute, the Milken Institute and American Enterprise Institute…
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