An Urban Institute analysis echoed observations in the FY 2015 actuarial audit of the FHA Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund, calling for the separation of the highly volatile reverse mortgage portfolio from the fund. Assessing the performances of the larger forward mortgage portfolio and the smaller Home Equity Conversion Mortgage portfolio when determining FHA’s financial status results in an inaccurate picture, warned Laurie Goodman, director of the institute’s Housing Finance Policy Center. Including the highly unstable, unpredictable HECM business in FHA’s solvency calculation severely distorts the fund’s true financial condition, she said. Goodman’s dire warning puts a damper on the actuarial audit, which, for the first time since 2009, reported the fund’s capital ratio over the 2.0 percent statutory threshold, up from 0.41 percent in FY 2014 and a year earlier than projected in the ...

Customer satisfaction tends to be higher for the VA and FHA single-family mortgage programs than for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to the J.D. Power 2015 U.S. Primary Mortgage Origination Satisfaction Survey. So-called special mortgage programs, such as FHA and VA, showed a substantial improvement in customer satisfaction in 2015 compared to last year. VA customer satisfaction averaged 818 this year, up from 805 in 2014, while FHA customer satisfaction also averaged 818, an improvement from 794 in 2015, said Craig Martin, director of mortgage practice at J.D. Power. On the other hand, overall customer satisfaction with Fannie Mae- and Freddie Mac-related mortgage originations averaged 793 in 2015, an increase of 7 points from 2014. The annual study measures customer satisfaction with mortgage origination in six areas: application/approval process ...

A coalition of financial services trade groups expressed support for the permanent extension of the one-year protection from foreclosure for service members who have just left the military. The provision under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act will expire at the end of 2015 and revert to the original 90-day protection unless extended by legislation. Eight industry trade organizations in a joint letter urged House lawmakers to extend the provision through 2016 if they cannot make it permanent. Some service members continue to face financial hardship upon returning to civilian life, the groups noted. Slow recoveries in real-estate markets in certain areas of the country, particularly those around military bases, make it difficult for those retiring or opting out after their tour of duty is up to sell their houses. The protection becomes effective on the date the service member is ...

New foreclosure timeframes will become effective for all VA loan terminations completed on or after Jan. 4, 2016, according to a recent notice issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs. The notice provides a table of foreclosure timeframes – the number of calendar days required to complete a foreclosure – which the VA has determined to be reasonable and customary for all states. The timeframes are important in the calculation of the maximum interest payable on a foreclosure of a VA-guaranteed loan. The VA Home Loan Guaranty program offers a partial guaranty against loss to lenders who make home loans to veterans and active-duty military personnel. Agency regulations spell out the circumstances under which VA will pay loan-guaranty claims. Under VA rules, a guaranty claim can include unpaid interest for a period of up to 210 calendar days from the due date of the ...

The House Financial Services Committee this week passed H.R. 3700, the “Housing Opportunities Through Modernization Act,” moving forward reform measures that would make it easier for condominium investors to obtain FHA financing. Sponsored by Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-MO, chairman of the House Financial Services subcommittee on Housing and Insurance, and Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-MO, the bill passed with a bipartisan vote of 44-10. Among other things, the bill would ease FHA’s restrictions on the purchase and sale of condo units. It includes changes to the certification and recertification process, owner/occupancy ratio, commercial space requirements and private transfer fees. Specifically, H.R. 3700 would require the streamlining of the FHA condo recertification process by considering a longer time period before a condo project recertifies. Currently, certification is ...

The VA Home Loan Guaranty program has announced a new percentage that lenders can use in calculating the purchase price of a property securing a terminated loan. The new percentage becomes effective on Dec. 23, 2015. When a veteran borrower defaults on a VA loan, the agency is obligated to pay a guaranty claim to the loan holder. If requirements are satisfied, a foreclosing loan holder also has the option of conveying a foreclosed property to VA. A key component in conveying a property to the VA is the net value of the property to the federal government. Net value, essentially, is the fair market value of the property minus the total cost the agency estimates it would incur in acquiring and disposing of the property. A percentage that VA computes annually represents the costs of acquisition and disposition. The agency refers to this computed percentage as the “cost factor.” VA is continuing ...

HUD-IG Issues Industry Warning Against HECM Refi Scam. The inspector general of the Department of Housing and Urban Development has issued an alert to warn lenders, originators and sponsors about fraudulent appraisals that are being used to inflate reverse loan amounts in order to qualify borrowers for HECM financing. Auditors have reviewed HECM refinances over the last several years and have found indications of fraud in hundreds of HECM loans, the IG said. Specifically, appraised values were inflated by 60 to 100 percent or more above the collateral’s actual market value. FHA Announces Lender Recertification Webinar. The FHA will present an online webinar that will assist FHA lenders with the upcoming lender recertification process. Scheduled for Dec. 15, 2015, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., EST, the webinar will provide details and tips on how FHA lenders can submit an ...

Separate appeals courts this week vacated legal victories that the federal government achieved in the aftermath of the financial crisis. The cases involve former officials at State Street Bank and Trust and a former MBS trader at Jefferies & Company. In 2014, commissioners of the Securities and Exchange Commission voted 3-2 to reverse a ruling by the SEC’s Chief Administrative Law Judge involving James Hopkins, a former vice president and head of North American product engineering at State Street, and John Flannery, a former CIO at the bank. The ALJ had dismissed...

The Department of Justice plans to use the tactics that it employed in cases involving the financial crisis and MBS in efforts going forward to combat financial fraud, according to agency officials. “It is hard to overstate the creativity of this effort,” Michael Blume, director of the consumer protection branch at the DOJ, said during a speech late last week. He called it “a loosely centralized effort, employing civil penalty statutory provisions, involving close cooperation with regulatory experts and leveraging resources from the entire country.” He noted...

This lender said finding good appraisers can sometimes be a challenge and predicted that eventually appraisals on such mortgages could cost upwards of $1,000…