It's no secret that Ginnie Mae officials are losing sleep over nonbanks dominating the government MBS market. With liquidity a primary concern, the agency is ready to consider "non-traditional" investors in its MSRs. But there's a catch: They may have to commit as much as $1 billion.
Possibly dozens of VA lenders have been handed subpoenas from the federal government tied to VA delinquencies and possibly loan churning. Is this a fishing expedition or something more? Needless to say, lenders are worried.
It appears that RoundPoint Mortgage is once again on the auction block. This time around, it looks as though the $90.5 billion residential servicer will be sold to top-ranked Freedom Mortgage, Stan Middleman's shop. But it's not a done deal, sources say, at least not yet.
Faced with a lawsuit from a tribal housing-finance agency, HUD has delayed implementation of a new policy regarding downpayment assistance programs for at least 90 days.
Home mortgages that fail one of the basic tests to be classified as a qualified mortgage have become an increasingly large part of the agency market over the past few years, a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis reveals. [Includes one data chart.]
To minimize credit risk in FHA’s forward mortgage portfolio, lenders have been ordered to manually underwrite loan applicants with low credit scores and high debt-to-income ratios. [Includes one data chart.]
A new report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau shows a dramatic shift by servicemembers who are first-time homebuyers from conventional to government-backed loans, particularly VA loans, during and after the financial crisis.
Market participants welcomed the new FHA guidance that allows the use of third-party vendors as an alternative method to verify a borrower’s employment, income and assets directly with the employer and financial institutions.