FHA lenders with less than $500 million in assets will not have to comply with FHA rules requiring audited fiscal statements each year, a Department of Housing and Urban Development spokesman told Inside FHA Lending this week. The waiver, which will be implemented...
The Department of Housing and Urban Development selected 18 lenders to participate in the two-year pilot program that will offer certain qualified borrowers low-cost loans to make energy-saving improvements to their homes. Homeowners can use...
The FHA could lose 7 percent, or $2.8 billion, of its current business if loan limits are lowered this year, according to a government analysis of the impact of new lower loan limits going into effect in the fall. Barring congressional action, the temporary FHA loan limits will revert by statute to the lower loan limits determined by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act for loans insured by the FHA on or after Oct. 1. The FHA single-family loan limit, which is tied to the conforming loan limit, continues to start at $271,050 in low-cost areas and goes as high as $729,750 in high-cost areas of the country. On Oct. 1, however...
The House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing, Insurance and Economic Opportunity will conduct another hearing on a Republican proposal to reform government mortgage programs and spur private sector participation in home financing. The Department of Housing and Urban Development, Ginnie Mae and the Rural Housing Services (RHS) will be asked to testify on the draft bill, the “FHA-Rural Regulatory Improvement Act,” which proposes reforms for the three agencies, enhanced lender enforcement tools, and return of private capital to the residential mortgage market. No date has been set for the hearing, and HUD has declined ...
The Mortgage Bankers Association has asked the FHA to allow the use of electronic signatures, or e-signatures, for all mortgage origination forms required by the agency. In a recent letter, the MBA requested Robert Ryan, acting assistant secretary for housing and FHA commissioner, to implement a revised policy authorizing e-signatures on all FHA loan documents. Electronic signatures are already acceptable under federal law and by the FHA on certain documents, the MBA noted. The use of e-signatures will help reduce processing issues that impair the homebuying process ...
Industry groups are recommending changes to FHA’s condominium rules to boost sales without putting pressure on the FHA’s Mutual Mortgage Insurance fund. Amending FHA rules on condo developments would enable lenders to move more real-estate-owned properties off their books as more units become eligible for buyers with FHA mortgages, the groups said. On the other hand, current condo owners would benefit from the increased owner-occupied ratio as vacant units are purchased, the groups noted. Improving the health of condo developments will reduce the risk to the insurance fund, they added. Condo loans are performing stronger ...
A major direct endorsement lender has agreed to pay $1.2 million to the Department of Housing and Urban Development to resolve allegations that it failed to comply with FHA requirements in connection with 27 mortgage loans. U.S. Bank did not admit any liability or wrongdoing in its agreement to pay the settlement amount, although HUD claimed it lost more than $465,000 on poorly underwritten loans originated in 2003 and 2004. …
The U.S. Supreme Court did FHA lenders a small favor recently by limiting the use of evidence obtained from government sources in cases brought under the False Claim Act, lately the bane of mortgage lenders that originate government-insured loans and are accused of fraud and abusive lending practices. The opinion could discourage whistleblowers from bringing FCA lawsuits if they base their allegations not on their own experience but on information obtained through the federal Freedom of Information Act. In a May 16 decision in Schindler Elevator Corp. v. United States ex rel. Kirk, No. 10-88, the Supreme Court ruled ...
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