The Mortgage Bankers Association urged lenders to review the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s new loan-level and lender-level certifications to assess the legal and reputation risks to FHA lending. In a statement, MBA President/CEO David Stevens further urged lenders to analyze whether the new certification language provides sufficient protection from unwarranted false claim enforcement action. The MBA statement came as the Department of Justice, commenting on the new certifications, warned that it will continue to pursue lenders that submit false statements and false claims with the intent to defraud taxpayers. The new loan-level certification language reinforces FHA’s position that lenders should not be penalized for minor mistakes on FHA loans. It requires lenders to certify “to what they know to be true to the best of their knowledge.” Lender-level certification, carved out of the initial loan-level certification, would require lenders to certify they have not ...

The Department of Veterans Affairs FY 2017 budget is seeking $34 million for the VA Loan Electronic Reporting Interface (VALERI) to manage the 2.4 million VA mortgages in portfolio. VALERI connects VA with more than 225,000 approved mortgage servicers and an estimated 320,000 veteran borrowers. Specifically, the system is used to manage and monitor servicer and VA staff activities aimed at providing timely and appropriate loss-mitigation assistance to defaulted borrowers. Without these resources, approximately 90,000 veterans and their families would be in danger of losing their homes each year, the VA said. Furthermore, this could cost the VA $2.8 billion a year in additional expense. In addition, VALERI also supports payment of guaranty and acquisition claims.Meanwhile, starting March 19, VA servicers began using the new version of the bulk upload templates to ...

House Financial Services Committee Passes Flood Insurance Bill. The House Financial Services Committee recently voted to advance legislation that would provide a private flood insurance alternative to the federal National Flood Insurance Program for homeowners required to purchase flood insurance. H.R. 2901, the Flood Insurance Market Parity and Modernization Act, passed by a unanimous vote of 53-0 and was sent to the House floor for consideration. A Senate counterpart bill, S. 1679, which was reintroduced by Sen. Dean Heller, R-NV, last year, is awaiting action in the Committee of Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. Both bills were introduced jointly in both the House and the Senate in 2015. Currently, due to uncertainty as to whether the coverage satisfies federal requirements, many lenders are reluctant to issue mortgages for homes with ...

Errors in TRID disclosures on jumbo mortgages played a key role in the recent closure of W.J. Bradley Mortgage, but the privately held nonbank may have had other problems as well, according to industry officials who claim to have intimate knowledge of the company’s operations. A thin capital base is one of those problems. An investor in the company and an investment banking official each told...

The impact of the TRID integrated-disclosure rule that took effect on Oct. 3 seems to have had little impact on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. For now, the government-sponsored enterprises are focused on whether sellers are using the correct forms, not whether there are mistakes. The GSEs have amended their contractual obligations with their customers to let them know that the customer is responsible for any potential or actual loss as a result of TRID violations. “So they’re basically turning what was a repurchase obligation into an indemnification obligation,” said...

Employment and pay prospects are looking up for loan brokers as well.

“Mortgage g-fees should only be used as a buffer against mortgage defaults, not as a piggy-bank for increased government spending,” said NAR chief Salomone.

Then again, there are doubts the legislation will ever be enacted.

The supply of home loan debt outstanding grew for a third straight quarter in late 2015, including an ongoing ride higher in un-securitized portfolio mortgages. The Federal Reserve reported that $9.986 trillion of home mortgages were outstanding at the end of last year, a 0.3 percent increase from the third quarter. The growth rate slowed a bit – the market grew by roughly twice that rate from March to September – but the fourth quarter put unpaid home mortgage debt up 1.0 percent from the end of 2014, the first annual increase since 2007. The single fastest-growing segment of the market continued...[Includes two data tables]

Firms that specialize in subservicing increased their contracts by 2.7 percent in the fourth quarter and by 21.3 percent from a year ago, according to a new tally from Inside Mortgage Finance. In general, the outlook for the sector is strong, but a handful of firms aren’t growing their business by very much. And one firm – Ocwen Financial – experienced a large decline in contracts during the period. At yearend, Ocwen subserviced...[Includes one data table]