Wells Fargo this week said it would reinstate certain credit overlays on its FHA business segment after expressing frustration over FHA’s republished proposal on loan-level certification. The lender, which ranked second on Inside FHA/VA Lending’s top FHA lenders for the first six months of 2015, reiterated the need for clearer rules in order to originate FHA-insured loans without fear of litigation or enforcement action. The bank said it is very disappointed with FHA’s revised certification proposal, which was republished in the Sept. 1 Federal Register. “In spite of much input to FHA from various consumer groups and lenders over a long period of time, [the] proposal falls short of what is needed,” said Mike Heid, head of Wells Fargo Home Lending. “As a result, this will now force us to add back certain credit overlays on the FHA single-family program.” Other FHA lenders could follow Wells Fargo’s lead as some did when ...

Securitized FHA,VA and rural housing loans in Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities totaled $188.5 billion in the first six months of 2015, fueled by significant purchase and refinance activity, according to an Inside FHA/VA Lending analysis of Ginnie Mae data. An estimated $113.4 billion in FHA-insured mortgages were securitized during the first half of the year. Of that total, $60.6 billion were purchase mortgages and $44.2 billion were refinance loans. FHA purchase-loan production increased 58.8 percent in the second quarter from the prior quarter while refi lending jumped 160.8 percent over the same period as FHA’s reduced annual mortgage insurance premium began to take hold. The FHA loans that went into Ginnie MBS showed an average loan-to-value ratio of 92.8 percent and an average debt-to-income ratio of 39.7 percent. Borrowers’ average FICO score was 675.9, which was indicative of ... [ 2 charts ]

The FHA is developing standards that would allow FHA financing on homes with existing Property Assessed Clean Energy liens going forward. Specifically, the guidance would require subordination of PACE financing to first-lien FHA mortgages. The FHA is also working on a monitoring mechanism to track the number of PACE loans with FHA insurance in the future, said a HUD spokesman. Mortgage market analysts say FHA’s action could lead to broader adoption of the PACE program for FHA-insured single-family homes. The Mortgage Bankers Association, in a statement, applauded the move. “This modification should allow some homeowners to install energy improvements in their home but not impede the rights of the first lien, something the original PACE program failed to consider,” said David Stevens, MBA president and CEO. PACE programs allow local governments to raise bond-funded financing to ...

Another Cut in FHA Premiums Coming This Winter? Will the FHA take the bold step of cutting annual mortgage insurance premiums this winter? It’s an intriguing question posed by Capital Alpha Partners. The research firm, in a new report, quotes what it calls a “reliable FHA bull” who “presciently foresaw” the last premium cut. Alpha cautions that its source on the matter is not betting on such a move, but raises the possibility “that the tumblers could fall into place once again.” One possible catalyst for an MIP cut would be poor results from a forthcoming Home Mortgage Disclosure Act report that shows FHA as well as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are not serving low-income borrowers very well. In January 2015, FHA implemented a half-percent reduction in annual mortgage insurance premiums. At the time, the Department of Housing and Urban Development predicted that 250,000 new homeowners would ...

The CFPB, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency brought a combined $37.3 million enforcement action against Citizens Bank earlier this month for allegedly failing to credit consumers the full amounts of their deposited funds. The regulatory agencies accused the bank of keeping money from deposit discrepancies when receipts did not match actual money transferred. “Citizens Bank regularly denied customers the full credits of their deposits when there were discrepancies between deposit slips and the actual money transferred into the bank,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. “The bank chose to ignore these discrepancies and harmed many consumers by pocketing the difference.” The CFPB said its investigation found that from January 1, 2008, to ...

The CFPB has denied a recent petition from Selling Source, LLC, a lead-generation company in Las Vegas, and Tim Madsen, a company employee and recipient of a civil investigative demand from the bureau, to modify or set aside the action. “Petitioners raise a number of objections to the CID, none of which warrants setting aside or modifying the CID,” said the bureau. First, the petitioners contend that the CID’s notification of purpose is too vague and thus fails to comply with legal and regulatory requirements, according to the CFPB’s decision. The bureau said the related statute and regulation do not require a detailed narrative and that it may draw the boundaries of its investigation quite generally. Second, the petitioners contend ...

World Acceptance Corp., a publicly traded small-loan consumer finance company based in Greenville, SC, recently revealed that CFPB enforcement staff is considering whether to recommend the agency bring legal action against the company. The company received a civil investigative demand from the bureau back in March, the stated purpose of which is to determine whether the company has been or is “engaging in unlawful acts or practices in connection with the marketing, offering, or extension of credit.” World Acceptance Corp. responded, within the deadlines specified in the CID, to “broad requests for the production of documents, answers to interrogatories and written reports related to loans made by the company and numerous other aspects of the company’s business,” the firm said ...

A number of consumer-oriented organizations are urging members of Congress to defeat H.R. 1737, the “Reforming CFPB Indirect Auto Financing Guidance Act,” legislation they say would cripple the bureau’s ability to act against discriminatory auto lending practices. H.R. 1737, introduced this spring by Rep. Frank Guinta, R-NH, would require the CFPB to rescind its guidance from March 2013 regarding the fair lending risks associated with car dealer interest rate markups. The bill also would require the bureau to provide notice and take comments only for guidance related to auto lending through car dealers. Additionally, the legislation would make publicly available all information relied on by the CFPB, and redact any information exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act....

Former CFPB Deputy Director Steve Antonakes is the latest high level official at the bureau to cash in on his few years at the agency, taking a position as chief compliance officer for Eastern Bank, a full-service commercial bank headquartered in Boston. Antonakes, who most recently served as deputy director and as the associate director for supervision, enforcement and fair lending at the CFPB, brings 25 years of compliance, risk management and financial services experience to Eastern Bank. While at the CFPB, Antonakes served as its second-highest-ranking official and was responsible for the supervision of all banks and non-banks under the bureau’s jurisdiction and the enforcement of federal consumer protection and fair lending laws. Antonakes was appointed by successive governors ...

Get Your TRID On. The CFPB has put out a Know Before You Owe guide for real estate professionals to help them navigate the upcoming TILA/RESPA Integrated Disclosure rule, otherwise known as TRID. The guide spells out the major elements of the rule, such as the steps associated with closings, and provides an explanation of the new disclosures. Industry pros can download from the bureau’s website print-ready versions in Adobe Acrobat PDF format as well as pre-order printed copies from the U.S. Government Printing Office. TRID Drives ClosingCorp to Integrate With Savana’s Loan Origination Product. ClosingCorp, a San Diego-based residential real estate closing cost data and technology vendor for the mortgage and real estate services industries, has integrated its Loan ...