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Inside Mortgage Finance

April 1, 2010

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Obama Unveils Changes to HAMP to Assist Underwater Borrowers, Encourage Wider Use of Principal Writedown

President Obama last week announced long-anticipated enhancements to the Home Affordable Modification Program that will provide temporary relief to unemployed homeowners and encouragement for principal reduction for those irretrievably stuck with underwater mortgages.Unveiled March 26, the HAMP improvements came hand in hand with new FHA refinance options with incentives... Read More

New FHA Refi Program Addresses Problems That Plagued HOPE for Homeowners

A new initiative announced by the Obama administration last week tries to create an FHA refinance program for underwater borrowers that will work better than the failed FHA HOPE for Homeowners program, but industry sources aren’t sure how much business the new “FHA short refi” program will generate. Under the new FHA refi option, lenders would have to write down at least 10 percent of the... Read More

Treasury Irons Out FHA-HAMP Incentives

The original guidance to the FHA’s version of the Obama administration’s Home Affordable Modification Program said participating servicers would be eligible to receive incentive payments for successful mods, but servicers have been waiting since August last year for the money to flow. Last week, the Treasury Department finally unveiled the details of the incentives payment structure... Read More

Treasury Scrambles to Improve HAMP Oversight While Pushing for More Results

Treasury Department officials are expected to announce remedial steps for mortgage servicers that don’t fully comply with ever-evolving rules for the Home Affordable Modification Program, although the agency has apparently decided to ignore other recommendations from federal auditors. Treasury officials told the Government Accountability Office that this month they will... Read More

Thrift Industry Continues Losing Share in 2009 Mortgage Market; Charter May Be Eased Out

The thrift industry saw its share of overall mortgage originations drop to a record low of just 12.4 percent in 2009, according to a new analysis and ranking by Inside Mortgage Finance. Lenders regulated by the Office of Thrift Supervision generated just $224.3 billion in mortgage originations last year, according to their regulatory filings, a decline of... [Includes two charts] Read More

White House’s Desire to Replicate Health Care Victory Could Dampen Efforts to Find Consensus on Reg Reform

Bipartisan talks over regulatory reform legislation in the Senate apparently are underway although there is doubt whether Democrats will negotiate in earnest after the party’s use of its super majority to push a health care reform bill through Congress without Republican support. The White House, industry sources say, favors a similar strategy for regulatory reform legislation... Read More

Lenders, Brokers, Appraisers Remain Divided on Controversial Home Valuation Code of Conduct

The pending Nov. 1 expiration of the controversial Home Valuation Code of Conduct is reviving the bitter dissention among real estate industry groups that separately want to see it repealed, reformed or kept in place for a while. The Mortgage Bankers Association wants to improve the HVCC and keep it in place until issues associated with appraiser independence can be definitively resolved. Last week... Read More

Administration Keeps Up Campaign Against Mortgage Fraud, But Funding is Limited

The Justice Department, the FBI and the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force are continuing their efforts to chip away at mortgage fraud, with help from state and local government, but with limited federal funding committed to the cause, substantial results may be hard to come by. “Right now, the FBI is investigating more than 2,800 mortgage fraud cases, up almost 400 percent... Read More

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