PennyMac has revised master mortgage repurchase agreements with Credit Suisse to increase its funding capacity for new loan originations and acquisition of mortgage servicing rights, the company disclosed in a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The increase is temporary – effective from June 23 through Sept. 29 – but it will boost PennyMac’s funding capacity by $486 million. On June 23, 2017, PennyMac agreed to revised terms of its Third Amended and Restated Master Purchase Agreement (CS Repurchase Amendment), which would increase temporarily its maximum committed purchase price to $943 million from $700 million. Entered into on April 28, 2017, the amended repurchase agreement would allow PennyMac to sell to Credit Suisse and later repurchase certain newly originated residential and small-balance multifamily mortgages. The agreement also includes ...

The latest issue of FHA’s Lender Insight provides additional information to lenders regarding the new Loan Review System that was launched on May 15, 2017. FHA urged lenders to keep their contact information current in FHA Connection and in the Lender Electronic Appraisal Portal so that they receive automated system notifications on time. Also, lenders should review current FHAC user access for appropriate roles, the agency added. Lenders’ in-house FHAC application coordinators are authorized to grant access to, and assign roles within, the LRS. Having the correct roles should enable users to access the system from the FHAC menu, the FHA said. In addition, the lender must take a photo of any error messages that might appear on screen before contacting the FHA Resource Center, the agency advised. Be prepared to provide the date and time of the attempted login, user ID, lender user ID and the ...

Near the end of the second quarter, Credit Suisse resumed its activity in the non-agency MBS market after a lengthy pause. In May, the investment bank unveiled a $91.18 million deal backed by seasoned FHA loans. That was followed by a $393.97 million issuance backed by seasoned mortgages at the end of June. Credit Suisse marked its return to the jumbo MBS market in June – not as an issuer but as a depositor – lending its shelf registration to American International Group for a $511.98 million MBS. The bank faced...

Fresh off agreeing to buy $20 billion in mortgage servicing rights and production assets from New York Community Bancorp, Freedom Mortgage is in the hunt for more deals. “We’re looking and we’ve had people approach us with opportunities,” company founder and CEO Stanley Middleman told Inside Mortgage Finance. “We’re working on several MSR acquisitions right now.” Middleman declined...

Late last month the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee showed a new willingness to tackle housing-finance reform legislation and the fate of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but the wild card remains how its bipartisan solution will go over in the House. Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-TX, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, is no friend of the two government-sponsored enterprises and has leaned toward minimizing the government’s role in the market. Based on his past legislative efforts regarding GSE reform, the conservative from Texas would love...

As much as the False Claims Act has been a formidable government enforcement tool against FHA loan originators, the statute is also being used increasingly against mortgage servicers, according to compliance experts. Within the last 18 months, the DOJ has expanded FCA use to reverse mortgages and loan servicing, according to Phil Schulman and Krista Cooley, both partners in Mayer Brown’s Washington office and members of the firm’s Consumer Financial Services group, during a recent podcast. While the Department of Justice has consistently used the FCA and its treble-damage provision to enforce FHA loan origination rules, the economic downturn and foreclosure crisis has put...

A group of servicers and other industry participants is focusing on issues with government-insured mortgages and has plans to simplify servicing practices. The Mortgage Servicing Collaborative was organized by the Urban Institute’s Housing Finance Policy Center. It includes representatives from a number of major servicers along with some officials from trade groups, consumer groups, investors, mortgage insurers, vendors and academics. The goal is...

Wells Fargo fell a notch as PennyMac raced to the top to become the leading VA jumbo securitizer for the first quarter of 2017 – a period in which VA jumbo loan securitization took a sharp nose dive. The volume of VA jumbo loans securitized during the first three months plunged 36.8 percent, compared to the meager 2.0 percent decline seen in the fourth quarter. The drop reflected a 32.9 percent drop in jumbo mortgage production during the first quarter, along with similar large drops in virtually every product segment in the mortgage market, according to an analysis by Inside FHA/VA Lending affiliate Inside Mortgage Finance. The agency jumbo market was down 39.1 percent from the fourth quarter despite the bump up in high-cost loan limits to $636,150, an increase of $10,650 that became effective in January. All components of the agency jumbo market took big hits in the first quarter, including ... [ Charts ]

Industry comments on the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s plan to streamline and clarify agency regulations and discard those that have outlived their usefulness reflect mixed priorities.The Mortgage Bankers Association and the American Bankers Association chose to focus on a single issue, while the National Association of Realtors, the Community Home Lenders Association and the Consumer Mortgage Coalition called for changes on multiple issues. A HUD task force is sifting through department regulations to identify those for repeal, replacement, clarification or amendment. The regulatory review is in response to President Trump’s directive to reduce regulatory burden and control regulatory costs. While the MBA called for a freeze on all future False Claims Act enforcement actions against lenders (see story on p. 6), the ABA raised concerns about ...

The VA condominium-financing process can be difficult for both veteran borrowers and lenders, according to experts at a recent VA lender conference. The big issue for borrowers is finding a condo development that has VA approval or one that can obtain approval quickly enough to complete the loan process in the shortest time possible. A development that has a high number of foreclosures, a significant number of condo owners that are behind on their association dues, or pending litigation against the homeowner association is unlikely to win VA approval, experts said. Such factors could put the VA and the lender at risk. As such, securing VA approval for a development is crucial. In 2009, VA stopped accepting HUD/FHA condo project approvals in lieu of a VA project review, said Phyllis Chilton, valuation officer at VA’s Phoenix regional loan center. Condo projects that were accepted previously by ...