The Department of Housing and Urban Development is seeking comment on proposed changes to FHA’s loan certification document to make it less likely for direct-endorsement lenders to be sued for loan fraud over a technical glitch or an unintentional oversight. Language in Form 92900-A (HUD Addendum to Uniform Residential Loan Application), a loan-certification document signed by lenders, has been revised to reflect updated provisions in the new HUD Single Family Policy Handbook, a compendium of FHA policies and guidelines. The proposed changes would differentiate...
The New York regional office of the Securities and Exchange Commission has opened up a preliminary investigation into the use of “collection agents” by mortgage servicers, including Ocwen Financial. In a recent 10-Q filing, Ocwen said it received a letter in February from SEC staff “informing us that it was conducting an investigation relating to mortgage loan servicer use of collection agents, and it made a request for the voluntary production of documents and information.” In the filing, Ocwen provided...
Nonbanks have indisputably bought a bigger share of the mortgage servicing market in recent years, but that doesn’t mean some banks haven’t been buyers during the migration. The servicing asset was a pariah not long ago, said Mark Garland, president of MountainView Capital Holdings, during a panel session at the recent secondary market conference sponsored by the Mortgage Bankers Association. “It was stepping into a buyback obligation. Suddenly, two years ago, it became the greatest asset ever,” he said. And although Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Citibank have pruned...