The False Claims Act (FCA) and the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act (FIRREA) not only have become strong enforcement tools in the fight against FHA mortgage fraud but also an efficient means of recovering taxpayer losses. Having used both federal statutes effectively to wrangle huge settlements from large banks, federal prosecutors now have their eyes set on mid-level banks, according to compliance experts during a recent webinar hosted by Inside Mortgage Finance Publications. “Because these FCA [and FIRREA] lawsuits have been a cash cow for the Department of Justice and the Inspector General of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, I think these agencies will target mid-level banks next,” said ...

Weighed down by high premium costs and lender overlays, FHA lost more primary market share to private mortgage insurers and the Department of Veterans Affairs during the second quarter of 2014. Although June’s FHA endorsement numbers have not yet been released, the trend seen in April through May, along with Ginnie Mae securitization data, suggest that FHA business was up a modest 11.5 percent from the first quarter. But that increase provides no comfort to FHA, which saw its market share go down to 33.7 percent, a six-year low. From April to May, FHA forward endorsements rose by 2.4 percent to $10.61 billion. On a year-over-year basis, however, endorsements were down from $21.9 billion in May 2013, according to an Inside FHA Lending analysis of agency data. On the other hand, private MI companies reported a total of $44.19 billion of new insurance written (NIW) during the ... [2 charts]

Reverse mortgages would be included in Home Mortgage Disclosure Act reports under a proposed rule published recently by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The proposed rule would expand the definition of a “covered loan” under HMDA to include reverse mortgages and home-equity lines of credit (HELOCs), which include reverse mortgages structured as open-end HELOCs. Currently, HMDA regulations do not require reporting of HELOCs, although lenders may do so if they choose. Currently, financial institutions only have to report information on a closed-end reverse mortgage if the transaction involves a home purchase, home improvement or refinancing. Among other things, the CFPB has proposed to require that all reverse mortgages and HELOCs be identified by loan type to distinguish them from other categories of ...

CFPB Student Loan Ombudsman Rohit Chopra is raising the headline risk for banks that fail to be transparent about the campus financial product marketing agreements they have with colleges and universities. In a recent blog post alerting colleges and students about “secret banking contracts,” Chopra indicated the bureau has been mailing out letters to such educational institutions “to make sure they know that their bank partner has not yet committed to transparency when it comes to student financial products” because the financial institution has not yet posted its marketing agreement with the school on its website. Last year, the CFPB launched an inquiry into financial products marketed to college and university students to determine whether the market is working for...

Private mortgage insurance companies continued their roll during the second quarter of 2014, capturing a larger share of the primary MI market away from the faltering FHA program, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis. Private MIs reported a total of $44.19 billion of new primary mortgage insurance written during the second quarter, a 38.0 percent jump in new business from the first three months of 2014. Private MIs accounted for 41.4 percent of total primary MI new business, the industry’s highest share of the market since the second quarter of 2008, when the housing market landslide was gaining speed. The Veterans Administration’s home loan guaranty program is also building...[Includes three data charts]

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac reported a combined $5.0 billion in net income during the second quarter of 2014, down 46.2 percent from the first three months of the year as the two government-sponsored enterprises reported a significant downshift in repurchase activity. Through the first six months of the year, GSE profits were down nearly 81.7 percent from the first half of 2013. But Fannie and Freddie reaped huge profits in 2013 through hefty legal settlements, the capture of deferred tax assets and seller buybacks. “When you look back on 2013, our goal was...

FHA Commissioner Carol Galante is slated to depart the agency in a few weeks, leaving in her wake a healthier Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund, but her withdrawal comes amid gripes from some lenders that agency premiums are too high, hurting the first-time homebuyer market. Several industry officials give Galante high marks for not caving to industry pressure on reducing FHA premiums, and for trying to build bridges to originators at a time when the Inspector General of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and Justice Department continue to target lenders for their “legacy” production. One consultant who represents FHA lenders said...

Less than a week before its deadline, the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced last week that it is extending the comment period for guaranty fees charged by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In June, the FHFA issued a call for public comment on how the GSEs should calculate g-fees and whether the Finance Agency should proceed with a 10 basis point g-fee hike announced last year. In one of his first acts as FHFA Director in January, Mel Watt ordered the g-fee hike postponed pending further study.

The New York Department of Financial Services said it has concerns that certain nonbank servicers are using complex arrangements with affiliates to side-step borrower protections in force-placed insurance. Superintendent of Financial Services Benjamin Lawsky detailed what he called a “troubling” scheme between Ocwen Financial and a “related party,” Altisource Portfolio Solutions. “This complex arrangement appears designed to funnel as much as $65 million in fees annually from already-distressed homeowners to Altisource for minimal work,” Lawsky said in a letter this week to Timothy Hayes, Ocwen’s general counsel. According to the NYDFS, Ocwen recently implemented...

The Mortgage Bankers Association, in a bit of a surprise move, is pressing the CFPB, the Conference of State Bank Supervisors and members of Congress for changes to the Secure and Fair Enforcement of Licensing Act and other regulations that would provide uniform testing standards for all mortgage loan officers. The development is somewhat unexpected in that the trade group is calling for regulators and lawmakers to increase the compliance load for its members. Under the SAFE Act, there are two regimes for loan officers. Loan officers who work for nonbank lenders have to be licensed. That includes testing, pre-licensing and continuing education requirements, as well as extensive criminal and financial background reviews by state regulators. Additionally, they also must ...