The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Inspector General has recommended that HUD require an approved FHA lender to reimburse the FHA $1.6 million for improper claims on 11 preforeclosure sales, including lender and borrower incentives. An IG audit of EverBank of Jacksonville, FL, attributed FHA’s losses to the bank’s failure to determine whether or not defaulted borrowers qualified for the agency’s preforeclosure sale program. The IG looked into the bank’s short sale activities because it had the highest preforeclosure sale claims in Florida. More than 50 percent of EverBank’s FHA claims were from short sales, with more than $12.9 million paid from 2011 through 2013, the audit found. In response, EverBank questioned the accuracy of the IG report. The bank maintained that certain allegations do not constitute violations of ...
The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of the Inspector General has announced a total of $581.8 million in recoveries in September to strengthen and stabilize the ailing Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund. The recovered amounts are part of larger settlements between the federal government, U.S. Bank and Bank of America to resolve allegations of false claims and mortgage fraud in relation to FHA-insured mortgages. Both banks were investigated separately by the HUD-OIG, Department of Justice and U.S. attorneys’ offices in Michigan, Ohio and New York in connection with their lending and underwriting practices and quality-control programs for FHA-insured loans. On June 30, U.S. Bank entered into a settlement agreement to pay $200 million, of which nearly $144.2 million went to the MMI Fund. The bank admitted to poor underwriting, flawed quality control and ...
Missing or incorrect files was the most common defect found in 49 percent of the loans, of which 29 percent were deemed initially unacceptable. Flawed credit or underwriting came in second at 26 percent, of which 67 percent were rated unacceptable. Program eligibility and operational deficiencies each had a 9 percent share while defective appraisals were common in 7 percent of all reviewed loans. Properly mitigated, the percentage of initially unacceptable loans usually drops to about 7 percent. The FHA tends to blames lenders for the defects but the bottom line is mistakes cut both ways, according to compliance experts. “Lenders make mistakes that can easily be corrected,” said one compliance consultant. “FHA also can be guilty of causing a mistake.” For example, poor communication and lack of clarity caused lenders to check a yes/no box to confirm whether or not they ...
Lenders in the manufactured housing sector have taken issue with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau after the agency issued a white paper on the industry. “These consumers may be more financially vulnerable and benefit from strong consumer protections,” said Richard Cordray, the CFPB’s director. “The bureau is committed to ensuring that consumers have access to responsible credit in the manufactured housing market.” The Manufactured Housing Institute said it was pleased that the CFPB ...
Only one nonbank claimed more than a 1.0 percent share of originations of non-agency jumbo mortgages in 2013, according to a new Inside Nonconforming Markets analysis of Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data. Quicken Loans, the 10th-ranked jumbo lender in 2013, accounted for 1.26 percent of jumbos originated during the year, even after growing its originations at more than double the industry average compared with 2012. Banks were the top nine jumbo lenders in 2013 ... [Includes one data chart]
To this point, most products offered outside of standards for qualified mortgages have targeted super-prime borrowers, often with jumbo loan balances. However, competition among lenders in that sector has been strong and there are plenty of borrowers with somewhat less than perfect credit looking for non-QMs, prompting some lenders to work on expanding their non-QM offerings. Brian Simon, COO of New Penn Financial, said the nonbank is launching a non-QM for borrowers who have ...
Supporters of using eminent domain to resolve underwater but performing non-agency mortgages succeeded in placing their proposal back on the front burner in California this week. On Tuesday, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to convene in closed session later this month with the city attorney’s office for advice on “anticipated litigation relating to the potential negotiation or adoption of a joint powers agreement with the city of Richmond [CA] to establish a homeownership stabilization authority to assist homeowners with troubled mortgages.” The board opted...
Here's a fact that most readers may not know: the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 grants the FHFA the authority to bring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac out of conservatorship.
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