The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today announced that for the first four months of 2010, the staff of the Mortgagee Review Board (MRB) will exercise restraint in enforcing new regulatory requirements under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), due to take full effect on January 1. The MRB instructed its [...]

This year’s independent review of the Federal Housing Administration’s reserves makes one thing clear: the agency is burning through its cash reserves at a rate that leaves little room for error. The annual actuarial review, which was released last week, estimates how much cash the FHA will have on hand after paying for expected losses [...]

In view of higher than anticipated losses to the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), there are now many economists and analysts that are advocating that the FHA must take steps to increase down payment requirements in order to attract borrowers with more “skin in the game.” The FHA (Federal Housing Authority) has replaced sub prime loans [...]

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan and Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Commissioner David H. Stevens today briefed members of the media, industry leaders and congressional Members on the FHA’s financial outlook, in coordination with the agency’s release of its annual independent actuarial study. The independent study shows that FHA has [...]

The Federal Housing Administration’s mortgage insurance reserves fell to the lowest level in history and the government said more steps are needed to shore up the agency that guarantees one of every five single-family loans. The net capital ratio, or reserves after accounting for projected losses, fell to 0.53 percent in the year ended in [...]

Last week, the FHA, the federal agency that insures low-down-payment home loans for private lenders, said it was relaxing its building underwriting guidelines as a way of helping the struggling sector ride out the downturn. The move could help boost sales in condos by making more FHA mortgages available to borrowers. “The best way to [...]

This Mortgagee Letter provides (1) revised procedures; and (2) reaffirms existing procedures regarding Streamline Refinance transactions. This Mortgagee Letter is effective for new case numbers assigned on or after 60 days from the date of this letter. Key Revisions: • Seasoning • Payment history • Net tangible benefit for the borrower • Maximum Combined Loan-to-Value [...]

A loan modification occurs when the owner of a mortgage agrees to alter one or more of the following elements of the loan: the interest rate, term, and/or principal balance. It is important to understand who is the true “owner” of the mortgage. The institution you make your mortgage payment to is typically a servicing [...]

Last fall, as the financial system was teetering and the biggest banks were tightening credit, Karen DeForte couldn’t find a lender to refinance the two mortgages on her New York home, until she received a phone call from Lend America. Most banks rejected Ms. DeForte because her debt level was too high and her credit [...]

Concerns regarding a bailout of the Federal Housing Authority are mounting. http://curiouscapitalist.blogs.time.com/2009/11/04/i-want-my-fha-my-fha-annual-actuarial-study-that-is/