The Department of Housing and Urban Development is phasing out the Saver and Standard loan products under the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage program in favor of a new reverse mortgage that limits the amount of money a borrower can draw at closing to 60 percent of the value of the home. The fixed and adjustable HECM Standard and Saver options will still be available until Sept. 29, said HUD. The revised principal limit, pricing and disbursement policies for the new HECM product will become effective on Sept. 30. The revised HECM guidance also ...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has issued guidance establishing general procedures for mortgages and foreclosures on tribal lands. The Model Tribal Mortgage Lending Code is designed to meet the needs of mortgage loan guaranty, insurance and direct loan programs of the FHA, the Home Loan Guaranty program of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Rural Housing Program of the Department of Agriculture. Each of the federal agencies offers various mortgage-loan programs for Native Americans who wish to live on tribal trust lands or within a tribal area. The Housing and Community Development Act of 1992 created ...

A direct-endorsement (DE) lender in Arizona is on the hook for 789 FHA-insured loans with unallowable “gifts,” placing the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund at greater risk and causing the FHA to incur losses. Phoenix-based The Lending Company, Inc. (TLC) allegedly entered into agreements with two nonprofit groups, Family Housing Resources and Affordable Housing Partners, using gift programs that did not comply with FHA requirements, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of the Inspector General. The IG audit also found that TLC originated and underwrote FHA loans and did not ...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has charged Fifth Third Bank and a mortgage broker with discrimination for allegedly requiring medical proof from a couple with disabilities who were seeking FHA refinancing. Fifth Third Bank, Fifth Third Mortgage Co. and Cranbrook Mortgage Corp. were accused of violating the Fair Housing Act, which makes it illegal for creditors to deny or discriminate against borrowers based on disability, race, color, religion, national origin, gender or family status, including imposing different application or criteria on protected classes. The married couple, whose names HUD withheld, receive ...

Many of the lenders with high default rates are smaller companies while those with larger portfolios tend to perform better than the national average, according to Inside FHA Lending’s analysis of compare ratios on two-year FHA loan portfolios. The compare ratio is the percentage of a lender’s default and claim rate compared to the national average. It is shown as a numerical value, which HUD uses to determine lender performance. A compare ratio of over 150 percent will land a lender on HUD’s watch list and a ratio greater than 200 percent could result ... [1 chart]

Federal regulators dealt the private mortgage insurance industry a setback last week when they opted to ignore the presence of private MI coverage in defining “qualified residential mortgages” under a new proposed rule governing securitization. The new rule will require issuers of mortgage securities that are not backed by QRMs to retain a 5 percent share of the risk. As a practical matter, it won’t apply to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac business as long as the government-sponsored enterprises are in conservatorship, although this exemption would not necessarily be extended to any post-GSE entity that Congress may create. If the agencies stick...

Look for the Senate leadership from both sides of the aisle to ramp up efforts to craft new legislation on comprehensive mortgage finance reform when Congress returns from its summer recess next week, although industry observers predict lawmakers will make only marginal progress this fall. Last month, at the behest of Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee Chairman Tim Johnson, D-SD, and Ranking Member Mike Crapo, R-ID, senior committee staff met with various industry “stakeholders” – including trade associations, consumers groups and academics – to hear their thoughts on housing finance reform and the fate of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to meeting participants. The meeting takeaway among the stakeholders who spoke with Inside Mortgage Finance is...

Radian Guaranty has struck a deal with Freddie Mac on a pool of delinquent and reperforming mortgages, capping the private mortgage insurer’s exposure at $840 million and reducing the total number of delinquent loans by 12.6 percent. Announced on Aug. 29, the agreement covers a group of 25,760 first-lien loans insured by Radian and held by the government-sponsored enterprise that were delinquent as of Dec. 31, 2011. The agreement provides for the future treatment of these loans, including claim payments, loss mitigation and termination of insurance coverage. At the same time, Radian’s claim exposure on 9,756 delinquent loans and 4,586 loans that were...

Radian Guaranty, the nation’s second largest mortgage insurer in terms of new policies written, late this week reached an agreement with Freddie Mac, limiting its exposure on a group of 25,760 legacy loans to $840 million. In a new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the publicly traded MI said it expects to record a loss of $20 million in the third quarter because of the settlement. The Radian-guaranteed mortgages were delinquent as of the end of 2011. The MI has already paid $632 million to cover loss claims on these loans through two different payments. It also had set aside $205 million in a collateral account to cover what it calls “loss mitigation activity” on the notes.

Fannie Mae is lowering its maximum loan-to-value ratio to 95 percent come November, and there is speculation that the decision could force some of that business over to FHA. The policy change was confirmed by the GSE when it sent out an update to users of its automated processing program, Desktop Underwriter. It also means that mortgage insurers could lose business at a time when many have shown a new willingness to take on more credit risk amid improving delinquencies and earnings. Mark Goldhaber, a former executive at Genworth Financial, which owns an MI company, told ...