The Department of Veterans Affairs is planning to propose changes to rules under its Home Loan Guaranty program related to loan fees, appraisers, limited denial of participation and residual income. Three of the proposed rules are slated for publication in the first quarter of 2016, according to the VA’s semiannual regulatory agenda. Agenda items, however, usually do not follow their publication dates and most rulemakings take a while before they are finalized. One proposed rule would establish reasonable fees that VA lenders may charge in connection with the origination and servicing of VA loans. All proposed fees would be in line with those charged by private mortgage lenders, assuring the sustainability of the VA loan program, the agency noted. In addition, the VA plans to propose rule changes regarding limited denials of participation (LDPs). LDPs are VA-specific sanctions that the Loan Guaranty Service may ...

Joint civil fraud initiatives have resulted in $558.5 million in recoveries and receivables to the Department of Housing and Urban Development in FY 2015, according to the HUD inspector general’s semiannual report to Congress. The amount includes civil settlements of $212.5 million from First Tennessee Bank, $29.6 million from Reverse Mortgage Solutions, and $1.8 million from three other settlements. The settlements resolved enforcement actions brought by the Department of Justice on behalf of HUD in pursuit of civil remedies under a variety of statutes, including the False Claims Act, Program Fraud Civil Remedies Act, and the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act. Recoveries and receivables for other entities during the reporting period – April 1 to Sept. 30, 2015 – totaled $86.9 million and $268.2 million for the entire fiscal year. Some of the payments were made to the ...

The supply of single-family MBS outstanding grew again in the third quarter of 2015, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis. At the end of September, $6.381 trillion of single-family MBS were outstanding, a 0.7 percent increase from the second quarter. The market has moved in fits and starts since the end of 2009, but the September mark was the highest since the third quarter of 2013. The supply of non-agency MBS in the market has moved...[Includes two data tables]

The seven-year-old era of zero interest rates finally came to an end this week when the Federal Reserve began what may be the first in a series of small rate hikes, opting for a modest 25 basis point rise in the federal funds rate. However, the U.S. central bank also implied it expects four more quarter-point interest rate increases next year. The median projection among Fed Open Market Committee participants for the federal funds rate rises gradually to nearly 1.50 percent in late 2016 and 2.50 percent in late 2017, Fed chair Janet Yellen said in discussing the central bank’s latest moves. Further, as the factors restraining economic growth continue to fade over time, in their view, the projected median rate rises...

The U.S. residential MBS sector will continue its slow, steady recovery in 2016 amid a host of challenges, showing further improvement in housing fundamentals, credit quality and mortgage performance, according to analysts. The challenges to MBS structured financing boil down to the following: tapering of Federal Reserve investment in MBS, MBS supply and demand, interest rates and prepayment risk. Fitch Ratings notes...

More than two months into the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s integrated disclosure rule, known as TRID, many lenders apparently are still at the mercy of their technology vendors to get fully and finally up to speed. “Our members report that problems and glitches are still prevalent everywhere,” said Rodrigo Alba, senior regulatory counsel at the American Bankers Association, during a webinar this week sponsored by Inside Mortgage Finance, an affiliated publication ...

Congress looks poised to enact its second piece of legislation involving the two government-sponsored enterprises that have been in conservatorship for over seven years. Lawmakers included the “Jumpstart GSE Reform Act” in a fiscal 2016 omnibus spending bill that is expected to be approved late this week. The first piece of GSE legislation enacted by Congress affected just two people, rolling back pay raises awarded to the CEOs of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac early in 2015. The “Jumpstart” language is more daring by barring the Treasury Department from doing something it has no intention of doing: selling its preferred stock in the GSEs without Congressional approval. The original Jumpstart legislation, sponsored by Sens. Bob Corker, R-TN, Mark Warner, D-VA, and Elizabeth Warren, D-MA, also would have blocked...

The second month of operations under the new integrated disclosure rule showed some divergence in closing trends for home-purchase mortgage financing compared with all-cash transactions. In November, there was an increase in the share of purchase mortgages that missed their scheduled closing dates and a slight increase in closing times compared with October, according to the latest Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey. Some real estate agents responding to the survey pointed...

Seven years to the day after the Federal Reserve began its so-called ZIRP – or zero interest rate policy – the Fed’s Open Market Committee, as widely expected, finally voted this week to begin raising interest rates, opting for a modest 25 basis point rise in the federal funds rate. “This action marks the end of an extraordinary seven-year period during which the federal funds rate was held near zero to support the recovery of the economy from the worst financial crisis and recession since the Great Depression,” said Fed chief Janet Yellen. “It also recognizes the considerable progress that has been made toward restoring jobs, raising incomes and easing the economic hardship of millions of Americans. And it reflects the committee’s confidence that the economy will continue to strengthen.” However, the Fed also implied...

Don’t believe press accounts that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s integrated disclosure rule isn’t causing headaches throughout the mortgage lending industry, top industry representatives said this week. The good news for lenders is: It’s not just your shop that is having problems. Experts detailed the ongoing industry compliance problems with the CFPB’s Truth in Lending Act/Real Estate Settlement Procedures Integrated Disclosure Act rule – the so-called TRID rule – during a webinar this week sponsored by Inside Mortgage Finance. “Surely, the rule is...