Mortgage-backed securities analysts are recommending that Ginnie Mae temporarily place VA cash-out refinance loans with high loan-to-value ratios in custom pools until the VA implements new rules to curb churning in cash-out refis.

Finance of America – a Blackstone Group portfolio company – has agreed to pay $14.5 million to the government to resolve allegations that its operating subsidiary, Gateway Funding Diversified Mortgage Services, knowingly endorsed ineligible loans, resulting in losses to the FHA insurance fund.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has filed a complaint and a proposed settlement against a Nevada lender for misleading borrowers on the benefits of VA streamline refinancing.

The FHA has announced that protocols in place for second appraisal requirements for certain Home Equity Conversion Mortgage loans are now fully automated.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has issued a final rule streamlining single-family home-warranty requirements for FHA insurance.

The CFPB last week sued Village Capital & Investment for deceiving veterans regarding the Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loans program.

Uncertain as to what the Department of Veterans Affairs will propose to curb churning of VA cash-out refinance loans, analysts are recommending that Ginnie Mae temporarily segregate some of the loans in mortgage-backed security pools until the department implements new rules.

The Department of Veterans Affairs this week laid the groundwork for changes to its current rules on VA-guaranteed cash-out refinance loans.

In an analysis of FHA’s fiscal 2018 audit of the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund, analysts believe the Department of Housing and Urban Development may be inclined to shrink FHA’s footprint modestly given the risk profile of its new business.

The FHA’s Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund is generally healthy but for its Home Equity Conversion Mortgage program, according to the latest FHA audit of the MMIF. In its 2018 report to Congress this week, the Department of Housing and Urban Development had good and bad news regarding the financial condition of the insurance fund. The good news is that the economic value of the MMIF, which backs the FHA’s single-family loan programs, increased to $34.7 billion in fiscal 2018 from $26.7 billion a year ago. Total capital resources rose to $49.2 billion from $40.9 billion during the same period. For the fourth consecutive year, the fund exceeded its statutory capital reserve ratio of 2.00 percent. The ratio rose to 2.76 percent in 2018 from 2.18 percent last year. Premium reductions, had they been in effect, would have reduced the fund’s economic net worth and dropped its capital ratio, industry ...