With the days winding down to the effective date for permanent lower loan limits set by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act, the mortgage industry is strongly urging Congress to extend the current temporary higher loan limits to enable the FHA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to continue providing liquidity until the housing market recovers sufficiently. If the temporary limits are allowed to expire on Oct. 1, getting financing for home purchases or refinancing will become more difficult and expensive for many borrowers, which may result in ...

The impact of lower loan limits on the supply of Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities and other agency MBS would be very modest and that such loan limit changes should not affect Ginnie Mae prepayments, according to a recent analysis by Barclays Capital. With respect to agency MBS supply, the “permanent” lower loan limit established by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 should cut the combined issuance of both conventional and Ginnie Mae pools by about 5 percent, the report said. The report, among other things ...

As FHA tightens its underwriting further to give more room for private capital in the mortgage market, the federal single-family mortgage insurance program may no longer provide mortgage alternatives for as many “non-qualified residential mortgage” borrowers as it would have in the past, according to a new report issued by the Government Accountability Office. Analyzing the impact of the Dodd-Frank Act on homeowners and the mortgage market, the GAO report concludes that potential changes in the FHA’s role could influence ...

The Department of Housing and Urban Affairs’ Office of the Inspector General recommended that HUD obtain complete documentation to close Ginnie Mae contracts after an audit uncovered flawed procedures at the Office of the Chief Procurement Officer. The OIG called for tighter procedures after finding that the procurement office did not get documentation from Ginnie Mae to close out completed and expired Ginnie Mae contracts in a timely manner. That was a violation of HUD’s guidelines for contract closeout procedures, the internal watchdog unit said. In addition, Ginnie Mae did not follow department guidelines ...

A California mortgage lender that recently reached a settlement agreement with the Department of Housing and Urban Development over branch issues could land before HUD’s Mortgagee Review Board for branch-related loan quality issues. HUD’s Office of the Inspector General said an audit of Prospect Mortgage’s branches uncovered high default rates due to numerous violations of HUD underwriting and quality control requirements. The OIG recommended requiring Prospect to reimburse HUD $344,326 for ...

Some federally supervised depository institutions with FHA businesses are in danger of missing the July 29 deadline for registering with the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry and could be sanctioned. The delay in registration is apparently due to confusion and uncertainty as to whether certain employees meet the definition of a “mortgage loan originator” (MLO) and should be registered as required by the Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act, said compliance experts. The mortgage-related activities of such employees do not clearly meet the MLO definition and they include ...

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau may have taken the field before its franchise quarterback has suited up, but that’s unlikely to slow agency examiners in making their appointed supervisory rounds. They’ve already introduced themselves to their largest bank charges and are fine-tuning their internal examination guidelines so that when they get the final authority to supervise non-banks, they will come calling without delay, according to industry presenters at the latest webinar sponsored by In-side Mortgage Finance. When the CFPB officially ...

Mortgage industry officials are pressing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to create a true legal safe harbor as it takes over a rulemaking project to implement ability-to-pay requirements enacted as part of the Dodd-Frank Act. Although the Federal Reserve drafted the proposed ability-to-pay rule, it did not take a firm stand on defining the legal protection lenders will get from originating “qualified mortgages.” Late last week, the project – which implements amendments to the Truth in Lending Act – was passed on to the CFPB. The Fed proposed rule contains ...

The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington last week struck down a recent federal rule drafted to implement provisions in the Dodd-Frank Act, claiming that the agency did not properly weigh the economic costs and benefits of the new rule. As regulators across Washington, including the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, press to meet their Dodd-Frank mandates, opponents of the controversial law are turning to litigation over the rulemaking process to stymie new regulations. The appellate court action involved a Securities and Exchange Commission rule intended to allow ...

Some federally regulated depository institutions are scrambling to meet a July 29 deadline to register with the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry to avoid possible sanctions by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Although the covered institutions have begun registering their mortgage loan originators as required by the Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act, there is some confusion about other employees whose mortgage-related responsibilities are not as clear cut as those of MLOs, said compliance experts. Such employees include those who ...