Wall Street has unveiled policy proposals calling for premium and guaranty fee adjustments and reduced loan limits for FHA and the government-sponsored enterprises to jump start the return of private capital to the U.S. housing market. The American Securitization Forum said the current level of government activity in the mortgage market is neither sustainable nor advisable. The government, through FHA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, directly or indirectly guarantees 90 to 95 percent of new mortgage originations in the country, the trade association said. While everyone agrees the government’s role in housing should be reduced over the long term, there is ...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced plans to consolidate multifamily hubs nationwide and close a number of its smaller field offices. The plan would result in an estimated $61.9 million in annual costs savings for HUD after completion and affect approximately 900 of the department’s 9,300 employees. No employee will be laid off as a result of the restructuring, according to HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan. Donovan said the changes are part of a broader, long-term effort that will allow HUD to continue to deliver high-quality services by adapting modern best practices. The decision to ...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of the Inspector General has recommended that two lenders be reviewed for potential treble damages under the False Claims Act for allowing restrictive covenants to be recorded in regard to 864 FHA-insured loans in violation of FHA regulations. CTX Mortgage Co. of Dallas, TX, and Pulte Mortgage of Englewood, CO, could be on the hook for millions of dollars if HUD agrees to accept the OIG’s recommendations, which also include reimbursements and indemnification for paid and potential future claims. Both lenders maintained that ...

Congress Extends MI Tax Deductibility. Congress again extended legislation ensuring the tax deductibility of mortgage insurance on purchase and refinance loans through Dec. 31, 2013. Consequently, homeowners with adjusted household incomes of $109,000 or less can continue to claim the MI tax deduction on their federal tax return retroactive to Jan. 1, 2012. With a tax deduction, qualified borrowers may be able to ...

Moody’s Investors Service has come up with a monitoring approach to evaluating “tail risk” in non-agency MBS that pay scheduled principal and prepayments to the securities on a pro-rata basis and assessing the adequacy of the credit enhancement available to the rated securities. Tail risk is what might be described as the “end of life” risk of a disproportionately large loss (based on current balance of the pool) on the underlying pool at the end of a transaction’s term when few loans remain in the pool and credit enhancements, although high in percentage terms, may be very low in dollar terms. The proposed change in approach at Moody’s will mostly affect...

For years, Union Bank of San Francisco has made a name for itself as a top-ranked portfolio lender of jumbo mortgages – but all that could soon change. No, Union Bank isn’t leaving the space – not by a long shot – but the $94 billion asset commercial bank is in the midst of making a major push into conventional lending where its footprint has been quite small. “It’s...

Nationwide, mortgage originations fell by 4.8 percent during the first quarter of 2013, but a lot of that decline took place at the industry’s biggest lender, Wells Fargo, according to a new market analysis and ranking by Inside Mortgage Finance. Mortgage originations totaled an estimated $500.0 billion during the first three months of the year, down from $525.0 billion during the fourth quarter of 2012. It still ranked as the fourth strongest quarter in new loan production since the mortgage market tanked back in 2008, and originations in early 2013 were up 19.0 percent from the same period last year. But most of the indicators are...[Includes two data charts]

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau late last week issued a proposed rule to clarify a number of issues about qualified mortgages and other aspects of its ability-to-repay final rule promulgated in January that is set to take effect in early 2014. The agency proposed to clarify a key issue regarding the QM status of loans originally securitized by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, or insured by the FHA or VA, that are later subject to repurchase demands. Lenders have been concerned that such loans might lose their automatic QM status as agency loans, but the CFPB said they will not. “The fact that a [government-sponsored enterprise] or agency demands...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development this week issued guidance that spells out procedures for demanding indemnification from lenders participating in the agency’s Lenders Insurance (LI) program for loans deemed ineligible for FHA insurance. The guidance (Mortgagee Letter 2013-10) implements regulation that HUD finalized in January 2012. Indemnification for defective LI loans became even more important for the FHA after an independent actuarial audit in November revealed a negative capital reserve ratio and that a taxpayer bailout seemed imminent. Compliance experts warned that, with the policy changes, the more than ...

Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan this week reiterated his agency’s request for additional legislative authority to regulate the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage program by mortgagee letter so that much-needed changes can be implemented immediately. Rather than go through the tedious legislative process of amending HECM legislation to improve the program and reduce HECM losses, expanding HUD’s authority would enable the department to undertake immediate reforms, such as restricting lump sum payments, requiring financial assessments of HECM applicants and requiring borrowers to ...