The Department of Veterans Affairs Home Loan Guaranty staff is reminding VA servicers of new title requirements taking effect this week for conveying properties to the VA. Under VA regulations, a conveyance or transfer of real property to the department is acceptable if the holders of the VA-guaranteed loan provide covenants or warranties against the acts of the holder and/or their agents. In addition, conveyances would be acceptable to the VA if it vests or entitles the agency to such title as is. In addition, the VA would take possession of collateral as long as it is acceptable to prudent lenders, informed buyers, title companies and attorneys in the community in which the property is located. However, the VA’s determination of clear and marketable title rests on state statutory requirements, the agency noted in its guidance. The VA is providing servicers a revised state-by-state list of ...
The California Association of Realtors renewed its push for rules addressing the proliferation of FHA-insured mortgages that have Property Assessed Clean Energy super liens. In a recent letter to Office of Management and Budget Director Shaun Donovan, the CAR requested that both FHA and the Department of Housing and Urban Development adopt policy that is consistent with the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s existing policy on PACE liens. Specifically, such a policy would prohibit the use of PACE encumbrances with a “super lien” priority over mortgage financing. The group also urged HUD to issue guidelines directing FHA lenders and servicers not to place PACE liens above any mortgage insured by FHA. The CAR expressed concern about how PACE liens might affect the FHA Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund, which is currently recovering from years of losses. “If the ..
FHA Revises TOTAL Mortgage Scorecard. Effective on June 11, 2016, the FHA’s TOTAL Mortgage Scorecard no longer returns either upfront or annual mortgage insurance premium factors to an automated underwriting system. The FHA directs lenders to consult Appendix I of its Single Family Housing Policy handbook for applicable MIP factors. AUS vendors have been notified of the change and have adjusted their systems accordingly. HUD, First Citizens Bank Settle Fair Lending Complaint. A South Carolina bank has agreed to correct its lending practices and allocate funding to resolve allegations that it denied more loans to minorities compared to similarly-situated white loan applicants. The settlement agreement stemmed from a complaint filed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development against First Citizens Bank and Trust Co. in 2011 after an analysis of ...
The CFPB will take all of the content and commentary it has provided informally during webinars and at industry events, reconstituting it into some type of formal, definitive, and authoritative guidance.
The supply of single-family home loan debt in early 2016 grew for the fourth consecutive quarter to hit $10.008 trillion, its highest level in three and a half years, according to Federal Reserve data released late last week. The first-quarter gain was a modest 0.2 percent from the end of last year, and a 1.5 percent increase from March 2015. But the servicing market is a slow-changing glacier, and steady increases over the past year are another indicator that the mortgage market has largely recovered from the housing recession. Most of the gain came...[Includes two data tables]
Mortgage lending industry representatives were told to keep their expectations in check when it comes to the forthcoming TRID integrated-disclosure rulemaking from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which is expected sometime this summer, perhaps as early as late July. “Everybody in the industry cheered when the bureau announced this,” attorney Richard Horn, the former CFPB official who led the development of the TRID rule, said this week during a panel discussion at the American Bankers Association’s regulatory compliance conference in San Diego. “I think...
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau plans to develop another rule to resolve some of the mortgage industry’s problems with the CFPB’s integrated disclosure rule may provide some psychological relief for lenders. But it’s certainly not solving any of the problems they are struggling with right now, problems that continue to emerge as the months since implementation roll on. Among the host of concerns that have sprung up related to the Truth in Lending Act/Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act Integrated Disclosure Rule – TRID – is the raft of issues having to do with settlement agents. Delivering a presentation at the American Bankers Association’s regulatory compliance conference this week, Richard Horn, a former CFPB official, said...
Mortgage lenders soon will be facing higher civil monetary penalties that may be imposed by federal agencies for violations of various lending, servicing and consumer financial protection laws and regulations, warned industry attorneys. As part of the budget bill signed into law last year, the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act (FCPIAA) requires federal agencies to adjust the civil penalty amounts they charge for inflation by July 1, 2016. This will be followed be regular adjustments by January 15 of every year. The adjustments must be...
RSS