President Obama has signed legislation returning funding fees for VA loans to their pre-Nov. 18 levels. The fees specified in H.R. 674, the 3 Percent Withholding, Repeal and Job Creation Act of 2011, are valid through Sept. 30, 2016. Signed on Nov. 21, the bill ends industry confusion over the amount of fees lenders should charge borrowers since the Department of Veterans Affairs, in a case of bad timing, issued new regulations in September to lower the fees. This was before Congress announced its intention to introduce legislation that will extend the higher fees through 2016. Under updated guidance issued by ... [includes one chart]

The seasonally adjusted delinquency rates for single-family FHA and VA mortgage loans fell in the third quarter of 2011 as did those for all other first-lien residential mortgages covered by the Mortgage Bankers Association’s National Delinquency Survey. According to the survey, the third quarter saw a 45-basis point drop – from 8.44 percent to 7.99 percent – from the previous quarter in overall delinquencies on a seasonally adjusted basis. For FHA loans, the rate declined 53 bps to 12.09 percent from 12.62 percent, while VA’s rate fell 47 basis points to 6.58 percent from 7.05 percent. On a year-over-year basis, the seasonally adjusted delinquency rate decreased ...

The decision to restore “emergency” high-cost loan limits for the FHA, but not for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, will likely have a negligible impact on the government-sponsored enterprises, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis of agency jumbo mortgage activity. During the first nine months of 2011, single-family loans exceeding $625,500 – the top GSE loan amount for high-cost markets since Oct. 1 – accounted for an infinitesimal 1.5 percent of Freddie Mac’s total single-family securitization. Although the FHA can resume insuring...(Includes three data charts)

Private mortgage insurer PMI Group Inc. circled the wagons last week when it initiated voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to “protect stakeholders” as state regulators move to appoint a receiver for the company’s mortgage insurance unit. Headquartered in Walnut Creek, CA, but incorporated in Arizona, the Nov. 23 move to file for bankruptcy protection came one day after a Maricopa County judge rejected PMI Group’s bid to overturn the Arizona Department of Insurance’s seizure of its main unit, PMI Mortgage Insurance Co., in October. As part of the process to...

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency last week reported that 12 bank and thrift mortgage servicers are pressing ahead to comply with the foreclosure practices consent orders issued in April, but it will take all of next year to complete the necessary steps. “Work is well under way on the actions necessary to comply with the consent orders,” the OCC said in a report. “Efforts to correct deficiencies in foreclosure processes, management oversight and internal audit are furthest advanced.” To forward the process of identifying and providing remediation to...

Rep. Barney Frank, co-author of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, will not run for office when his term expires in 2012. The Massachusetts Democrat also served as the ranking minority member on the House Financial Services Committee. Frank said during a press conference this week that his decision not to run again “was precipitated, but not caused by, redistricting.” A member of Congress since 1980, the 71-year-old lawmaker pledged to remain an advocate for the two causes he views as most important: the protection of financial reform and the...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has reportedly offered to release major servicers from some liability related to FHA mortgages as part of a pending settlement related to foreclosure problems. While the offer may sweeten the deal for banks to settle with state attorneys general and federal regulators, observers say it’s not a total game changer. The complex negotiations have lasted more than a year, stemming from servicing practices that include robo-signing of foreclosure documents and poor communication with borrowers. A key sticking point has been...

The Federal Housing Finance Agency this week issued a final rule that would establish the conditions and procedures for Federal Home Loan Banks to merge, but experts say it’s unlikely any of the FHLBanks will do so voluntarily. The final rule, published in the Nov. 28 Federal Register, was based on governance practices common under corporate law, disclosure practices required under federal securities laws and merger approval standards in federal banking laws, the FHFA said. Although the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 allowed for FHLBank mergers, until...

Documenting mortgage lender and broker compliance with the Federal Reserve’s loan originator compensation rule will be just as important as actually complying with it, according to top industry attorneys and state regulators. “Compliance policies and procedures are really not enough” to satisfy the LO comp rule, Richard Andreano, a partner in the Washington, DC, office of the Patton Boggs law firm, told participants in a webinar sponsored this week by Inside Mortgage Finance. “The ability to document compliance will be very important, and people will need to maintain very...

Most of the impressive increase in new mortgage originations during the third quarter was in conventional home loans, including the non-agency jumbo market, according to a new market analysis and ranking by Inside Mortgage Finance. An estimated $212 billion in conventional conforming loans were originated during the third quarter, a gain of 29.3 percent from the previous three-month period. That boosted the conventional conforming share of the market to 65.2 percent for the period, up from just 60.7 percent in the second quarter of 2011. The non-agency jumbo market was... (Includes two data charts)