The risks that come with originating loans that don’t receive qualified mortgage protections can be significant. However, industry participants suggest that low-risk non-QMs can be priced at levels similar to the interest rates available on QMs. While interest-only mortgages don’t meet the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s standards for QMs, a number of banks plan to continue to offer IOs to well-qualified borrowers. Analysts at Barclays Capital noted that the loans don’t present lenders with ...

Spurred by low interest rates and strong house price appreciation, Home Equity Conversion Mortgage loan originations rose 20.3 percent during the first nine months of 2013 compared to the same period the year before, according to Inside FHA Lending’s analysis of FHA snapshot data. HECM lenders reported $11.8 billion in total originations over the nine-month period, with initial principal amount at loan origination totaling $7.8 billion. Purchase reverse mortgage loans comprised 94.5 percent while fixed-rate mortgages accounted for ... [1 chart]

The Department of Housing and Urban Development will accept electronic signatures on FHA loan documents provided the lender complies with the department’s latest e-sign guidelines. E-signatures are voluntary under current HUD rules. Effective immediately, however, HUD will accept such signatures on FHA paperwork relating to mortgage insurance, servicing and loss mitigation, FHA insurance claims, HUD real estate-owned sales contracts and related addenda as long as they meet the new requirements. The new policy applies to all FHA forward mortgages and Home Equity Conversion Mortgage loans. HUD will treat eligible e-signatures as ...

California lenders and realtors will appeal to the Department of Housing and Urban Development to reconsider changes in the FHA 2014 loan limits. Lenders doing business in counties that have been hard hit by the loan-limit changes are reportedly gathering data to support future requests to HUD to recalculate loan limits for a specific local area. An industry source said lenders in the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario housing market are gearing up to petition HUD to recalculate the FHA loan limits in those areas. Specifically, the median sales price for a one-unit property in the affected areas fell ...

The Senate this week passed bipartisan legislation that would delay unforeseen, excessive flood-insurance premium hikes for FHA and conventional mortgages nationwide. S. 1926, the Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act, passed by a vote of 67 to 32, as amended. Introduced by Sens. Robert Menendez, D-NJ, and Johnny Isakson, R-GA, the bill would delay rate increases for up to four years by giving the Federal Emergency Management Agency time to study the problem and develop a plan to help homeowners who cannot afford higher premiums. The increases were mandated by the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act, which Congress ...

VA Lenders’ Compliance with CFPB’s Ability-to-Repay and Qualified Mortgage Rules. Until the Department of Veterans Affairs’ rule on ATR/QM is in place, all VA lenders must comply with the requirements of the Truth in Lending Act, as established by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s ATR/QM rule, according to a recent agency guideline. VA will continue to guarantee all loans made in compliance with existing VA requirements, regardless of their QM status, the agency clarified. It urged lenders to refer to the CFPB guidance to ensure all their VA loans are ...

The FHFA’s final rule on golden parachutes applies to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the Federal Home Loan Banks and the Office of Finance, as well as any “entity-affiliated parties,” including independent contractors.

Storm clouds quickly gathered as Rep. Steve Pearce, R-NM, complained that the bureau’s QM rule and restrictions on high-cost loans would pretty much exclude manufactured housing – and then accused Cordray of deliberately trying to squash lower-income families.

Increased compliance costs in recent years have done little to dampen demand for mortgage servicing rights, according to industry analysts. “The amount of capital has far outstripped the available supply,” said Dashiell Robinson, a managing director at Wells Fargo Securities, during last week’s ABS Vegas conference sponsored by the Structured Finance Industry Group and Information Management Network. William Roehrenbeck, chairman and CEO of Arvest Mortgage Company, said...

Concerns about the potential harmful effects that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s qualified-mortgage standard might have in the manufactured housing sector struck like lighting at a hearing of the House Financial Services Committee this week, with CFPB Director Richard Cordray bristling at a perceived personal attack from a GOP member and demanding he be treated with respect. Storm clouds quickly gathered as Rep. Steve Pearce, R-NM, complained that the bureau’s QM rules and restrictions on high-cost loans would pretty much exclude manufactured housing – and then accused Cordray of deliberately trying to squash lower-income families. “Fifty percent of the homes in New Mexico are...