The Mortgage Bankers Association took issue this week with two proposals pending before the Basel Committee on Bank Supervision that could have negative repercussions on U.S. mortgage financing and on American homebuyers. Back in December, the Basel Committee put out a “consultative document” that included proposed revisions to its Standardized Approach for credit risk, including updated risk-weight calibrations. As applied to the U.S. ...

Nearly half of the troubled loans that were sold through the FHA’s single-family loan sale program have been resolved, and a significant portion of them are now re-performing, according to an agency report on the Distressed Asset Stabilization Program. Of the 48.6 percent of distressed loans that have been resolved, 43.5 percent have avoided foreclosure, the report said. The single-family loan sale (SFLS) has proven to be a borrower-friendly alternative to the ...

Loan Modification Trial Payment Plans for Forward Mortgages. The Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced requirements for trial plan duration, required signatures, and reporting for trial payment-plan agreements, and the conditions under which FHA deems a TPP to have failed.Lenders must implement the requirements in Mortgagee Letter 2015-07 for all TPPs offered to borrowers on or after June 1, 2015. FHA Publishes Additional Sections of HUD Single-Family Policy Handbook. The FHA has published additional sections for the SF Handbook, including the following: Doing Business with FHA – Lenders and Mortgagees Doing Business with FHA – Other participants in FHA Transactions – Appraisers; Quality Control, Oversight and Compliance – Lenders and Mortgagees; Quality Control Oversight, and Compliance – Other Participants in FHA Transactions – Appraisers ...

Production of mortgages with a VA guaranty grew a hefty 17.9 percent in the fourth quarter, providing an emphatic ending to a record year of VA purchase-loan originations, according to Inside FHA/VA Lending’s analysis of agency data. Total VA volume for the entire year was $112.0 billion in purchase and refinance loans. VA streamlined refinancings accounted for 22.4 percent of overall VA originations for 2014. Production for the full year, however, was down 13.8 percent compared to the same period in 2013. Lenders attributed the increased VA market share to the younger generation of soldiers and sailors engaged in foreign wars as well as veterans returning from the war front. Last year, 18 percent of VA loans were made to active-duty service members and 82 percent were loans to veterans, said Mike Frueh, director of the VA Home Loan guaranty program. “There is a lot more ... [1 chart]

Security issuances backed by FHA and VA loans totaled $267.6 billion in 2014, with several large states accounting for a significant share of FHA/VA originations. An estimated $158.1 billion of FHA-insured loans, including modified loans, were securitized last year, with purchase home loans comprising most of the transactions. Approximately $30.0 billion of FHA refinance loans were securitized as well. The FHA MBS had an average loan-to-value ratio of 92.3 percent and a debt-to-income ratio of 40.1 percent. The average FICO score was 672.3, which was indicative of first-time homebuyers and borrowers with slightly tainted credit. First-ranked California, Texas (#2) and Florida (#3) combined for a total of $48.0 billion, which represented 30.3 percent of FHA loans in Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities in 2014. Fourth-ranked New York reported a total of $6.7 billion while ... [ 2 charts]

Half of the loans in the Distressed Asset Stabilization Program have been resolved and a significant percentage of homeowners have avoided foreclosure, according to the latest DASP progress report from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. A review of the FHA single-family loan sale (SFLS) program found that, of the 48.6 percent that have been resolved, 43.5 percent have avoided foreclosure. The anticipated alternative for these borrowers – property conveyance, where their property becomes real estate-owned – would have led to foreclosure, the report said. Specifically, short sales and deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure were the disposition methods employed in foreclosure avoidance. In addition, 16.3 percent of resolved loans were re-performing as of Feb. 6, 2015. This reflects a 49.5 percent change in the re-performing rate reported in the ...

Consumer advocates and attorneys are urging the Department of Housing and Urban Development to delay the implementation of a new policy that purports to provide relief to surviving spouses of reverse-mortgage borrowers and to find solutions that are more effective. The group said the policy HUD announced in Mortgagee Letter 2015-03 on Jan. 29 is so restrictive that virtually all surviving non-borrowing spouses will get no relief. A letter to the agency, drafted by the National Consumer Law Center and signed by the Consumers Union, California Reinvestment Coalition, National Housing Law Project, Housing and Economic Rights Advocates and Institute on Aging denounced the new policy. They said most surviving spouses of deceased borrowers of Home Equity Conversion Mortgage loans will not be able to meet the policy’s stringent guidelines and will ...

The FHA’s request for authority to require specialized subservicing in certain circumstances could be included in an appropriations bill rather than in housing-related legislation, according to Sen. Jack Reed, D-RI, ranking minority member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, HUD and other Related Agencies. Reed raised the possibility during a recent hearing on the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s FY 2016 budget proposal. Among other things, the FHA has been seeking authority from Congress to require, in individual cases, inexperienced lender/servicers to transfer the function to a specialized servicer to better assist borrowers and reduce losses to the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund. Allowing the FHA to require transfer of servicing will help more distressed homeowners stay in their homes and avoid foreclosure, said ...

Private mortgage insurance is generally a better deal than FHA for mortgages with 90 percent or higher loan-to-value ratios, according to a new report from WalletHub, a web-based organization that monitors a variety of financial services. The report also found little variation in pricing in the private MI market based on monthly premiums charged by Genworth Mortgage Insurance Co., Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp., Radian Guaranty and Essent Guaranty. Of the four MIs in the study, Essent charged the highest premiums for loans with a 620-679 credit score. For all other FICO scores, the MIs charged uniform premium rates. For 97 percent LTV mortgages with a 620-679 credit score, FHA charged a cheaper monthly premium rate compared to private MIs. For 95 percent LTV and 90 percent LTV loans, the FHA charged monthly payments of $218.29 and $206.80, respectively, compared to ...

Real estate agents have a positive outlook for the spring homebuying season, especially first-time homebuyers, according to the Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey. Tom Popik, research director of Campbell Surveys, said homebuyer traffic was higher than expected during the winter and demand from first-time buyers is expected to be strong in the coming months. “Rising interest rates may stimulate the market as homebuyers ...