Mortgagee Letter 2010-03 contains information about the procedures that the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) will follow for terminating the underwriting authority of lenders with a high default and claim rate (DCR). Many loan officers are unaware of what a DCR is, let alone and where to find out what their company’s DCR is. The DCR [...]

A District nonprofit organization that says it helps cash-strapped homeowners avoid foreclosure is under federal investigation for instead helping lenders make high-risk loans that leave the government on the hook if they go bad, according to sources familiar with the probe. Federal officials say they are concerned that the Rainy Day Foundation could be thwarting [...]

New home sales improved in March at the fastest single-month rate in 47 years, according to a government report released Friday, as buyers snatched up properties ahead of the tax credit that’s set to expire. New-home sales rose 26.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 411,000 last month, compared to an upwardly revised annual [...]

Ginnie Mae plans to allow lenders to securitize single loans starting in July, a policy change that would help small lenders be more competitive when doing business with the agency and with the Federal Housing Administration. The FHA does not make loans but insures certain lenders against losses should borrowers default. The agency has played [...]

Political pressure is growing for lenders to cut mortgage principal for borrowers who find themselves underwater now that property values have plummeted. Executives from the nation’s four largest banks – Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, and JPMorgan Chase – pushed back against that pressure Tuesday at a House Financial Services Committee hearing. They argued [...]

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) in Mortgagee Letter 2010-14 has announced the acceptance of electronic signatures on third party documents included in the case binder for mortgage insurance endorsement as long as they are in accordance with Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (ESIGN) and the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA), as applicable. [...]

DocuSign, an on-demand electronic signature solutions, has announced that e-signed third-party documents, including real estate contracts, are now being accepted by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). DocuSign spearheaded an industrywide effort to move the FHA to formally recognize e-signed third-party documents. The April 8, 2010 dated FHA Mortgagee Letter is the first in what is [...]

Friday is the last day to get a mortgage backed by the Federal Housing Administration before insurance premiums rise. Mortgage insurance premiums on FHA-backed loans will increase to 2.25% of the total loan amount on Monday, from 1.75%. That amounts to an additional $500 for every $100,000 in borrowing. On a $300,000 loan, a borrower [...]

The Obama administration Friday tried to manage expectations about its newest foreclosure-prevention efforts, while consumer advocates and others who track the housing market praised the initiative but questioned whether it would succeed in curtailing the foreclosure epidemic. The initiative, announced Friday, expands on the government’s marquee foreclosure prevention program, Making Home Affordable. That program was [...]

One aspect of Friday’s announcement about changes with the Treasury’s mortgage modification program (HAMP) involves the Federal Housing Authority (FHA). Some critics, including me, worried that getting the FHA involved could prove dangerous. Would taxpayers now be on the hook to guarantee any mortgage modified to prevent foreclosure? Luckily, it appears not. At least, not [...]