Broker, Fraud, Credit, and Hedging Products; Lenders Adjust to FHA Changes

By: Rob Chrisman • Fri, Oct 18 2019, 8:15 AM

Here’s a little trivia for you. What does San Francisco have six of that Manhattan has none of? Dirt roads! I don’t know if the cost of maintaining a dirt road is more than that of maintaining a paved road, but I do know that the industry is buzzing about Citi being smacked with a $30 million fine by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency stemming from violations in relation to the holding period of other real estate owned. Yes, apparently there is a two-year limit on banks maintaining possession of a foreclosed property unless the bank applies for an annual exemption for five years. Past five years and the bank is supposed to sell the property back into the market to prevent available housing inventory from being kept away from would-be homebuyers. I received a few notes supporting the fine, saying stalling keeps someone from obtaining a new home, especially if they don't take the homeowner off the title/deed. (Editor’s note: How about fining states like New York for dragging their feet for years during the foreclosure process?)

Lender Services and Products

How much oversight is enough when it comes to vendor management? That question was asked at the recent MBA Fraud Prevention Forum in Chicago. To help you prepare for the 2020 vendor management lifecycle, Vendorly® is looking for feedback on a brief third-party risk management survey. With your participation, you’ll be entered to win a $100 Amazon gift card! Take the survey here.

Reminder! Freedom Mortgage Wholesale’s FHA Condo Single Unit Approval program allows for approvals of individual condo units meeting certain eligibility requirements even if the condo project is not FHA approved! Freedom Mortgage Wholesale is the right choice for a fast and easy FHA Condo approval. Relax - we coordinate the collection of all condo project information for you. Additionally, Freedom Mortgage will absorb any fees associated with Condo Questionnaire requests. Join us for FHA Condo Single Unit Approval training.

Going to the MBA Annual? Looking for a long-term strategy on reducing costs and scaling your business? Connect with the team at Sutherland to discuss how we are helping our clients scale and reducing costs by combining Automation with BPO solutions. We can deliver anywhere in the world or in the cloud. If you would like to schedule a meeting, please contact Neil Armstrong.

Lending solutions provider Data Facts recently announced they are offering a webinar to examine why you should really be taking a second look at Fannie Mae’s Day 1 Certainty program. They’ll uncover how it’s been changing the game for lenders, and why it’s never been easier to implement D1C for your business. The free webinar is on Thursday, October 24that 9am CT. Click here to save your seat.

Keep Data Facts in mind as a trusted partner you can rely on for credit reports, fraud products, tax return and social security verifications, flood certs, lead gen products, and more. Talk with a live person and take advantage of their personalized support. By offering a variety of seamless LOS integrations (Encompass, Calyx, Byte, etc.) and a 100% U.S.-based customer support team, they help their lending clients close more loans, faster and easier.

$1.1 billion in a weekend – or basically $1.2 million per minute. WOW, you brokers are amazing! Thanks the grinding you did last weekend, Quicken Loans Mortgage Services had its BIGGEST WEEKEND EVER, with $1.1 billion in home loans across America being placed with QLMS. That’s a fantastic feat! A huge share of QLMS’ 6,000 broker partners tapped into the incredible pricing, process, technology and support QLMS offers. If haven’t run your clients’ numbers with QLMS recently, call your AE today. If you’ve never talked to QLMS, now is the time. Click here to join.

FHA/VA Tweaks for Lenders, Investors, and Vendors

The Department of Veterans Affairs said it has completed processing roughly $400 million in “funding fee” refunds to more than 50,000 veterans, begun after the VA inspector general reported that at least 53,000 disabled veterans were charged funding fees that they were exempt from paying. LOs know that VA loans require no down payment or MI but borrowers often pay a funding fee to reduce the loan’s cost to taxpayers. Some borrowers are exempted, including those receiving compensation for a service-connected disability.

Scott Olson reports that the CHLA sent a letter to HUD opposing components in the Plan to reduce the footprint of FHA and opposing the use of risk-based pricing. In the letter, CHLA supports a number of Plan proposals - better alignment of servicer deadlines and penalties, more flexible pay scales, and addressing risk concerns of PACE loans and the Down Payment Assistance program. The CHLA believes, however, that proposals to curb eligibility for things like FHA repeat borrowers and refinance loans would hurt consumers' access to mortgage credit.

Turning to lender & investor changes, AmeriHome addressed condominium project approvals. “On August 14, 2019, with FHA INFO 19-41, FHA announced its Condominium Project Approval Final Rule (Project Approval for Single Family Condominiums) and implementation of the Rule with publication of new condominium sections of FHA’s Single Family Housing Policy Handbook 4000.1 (SF Handbook). For individual Condo Units underwritten by the Seller through Delegated underwriting: For Approved Projects: The project appears on the FHA-Approved Condominium Projects List with an unexpired HRAP/DELRAP FHA approval at the time of case number assignment and meets the loan level standards and requirements, or for Unapproved Projects: The project is not on the list of FHA-Approved Condominium Projects at the time of case number assignment and meets the standards and requirements for Single-Unit Approval.

For individual Condo Units underwritten by AmeriHome through the Non-Delegated Underwriting Program: For Approved Projects: The project appears on the FHA-Approved Condominium Projects List with an unexpired HRAP/DELRAP FHA approval at the time of case number assignment and meets the loan level standards and requirements. o AmeriHome will complete the Loan Level Review based on the required documentation provided to AmeriHome by the Seller. Single-Unit Approval is not eligible. See the FHA Standard Program Guide for AmeriHome condominium eligibility overlays that may apply. See the Seller Guide for Seller Representations and Warranties that apply.

Bayview | Lakeview Correspondent Announcement C2019-39 covers the following topics:

FHA and VA updates, USDA Update to Student Loan Payment Calculation, Lakeview No MI with Community Second Enhancements, Training Resources in MRN/Evolve and Home in Five Program Change.

A recent US Bank Seller Guide provides information on Rural Development student loan debt, disaster area declaration updates and a new Correspondent overlay for FHA delegated.

In a loanDepot Wholesale/Correspondent Weekly Announcement, information on the Freddie Mac Bulletin 2019-17 and the VA Handbook Chapter 13 Notices of Value is covered.

The ComplianceEase® flagship platform, ComplianceAnalyzer®, is now able to audit Veterans Affairs (VA) loans for unique state charges and fee deviations allowed by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. With this enhancement, lenders that use ComplianceAnalyzer now have the ability to seamlessly test VA loans for allowable state charges and fees that are typically considered unallowable under VA guidelines—ensuring they are compliant when itemizing charges and fees. “Our enhancements to ComplianceAnalyzer allow lenders to not only itemize fees for VA loans to take advantage of allowable state exceptions, but also mitigate risk by ensuring compliance and quality control.”

Capital Markets

MCT has announced that STRATMOR Group’s 2019 Technology Insight Study shows MCT as the industry leader in lender share, overall satisfaction, and Lender Loyalty Score® in the Production Pipeline Hedging category. 75.1% of category respondents use third-party tools and 39.9% chose MCT, giving MCT the highest Lender Share among pipeline hedging providers. MCT again had the highest Lender Loyalty Score®, an impressive 86.4 out of 100 with the average competitor at a distant 37.9. MCT also had the highest Overall Satisfaction of any vendor measured in the study, coming in at 9.3 out of 10. “We are elated to again receive the highest scores in our category, which we see as a direct reflection of how diligently we work to support our clients,” stated Curtis Richins, President at MCT. See how MCT stacks up against the competition, or read the press release for more details.

Traders will tell you that markets, like the bond market, will trade in a certain range only for so long, and then it will head one way or the other. We’re certainly “stuck in a range” and yesterday the 10-year ended the day yielding 1.76%. Brexit, impeachment, Turkey, China/trade, hog inventories. How long can we talk about these issues?

In the U.S. yesterday we did see that total housing starts declined a disappointing 9.4% m/m in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.256 million. Building permits declined 2.7% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.387 million. The month-over-month weakness was a function of downturns for multi-unit dwellings. Jobless Claims indicated that we’ll see another solid increase in October nonfarm payrolls. Industrial production declined, as did Capacity Utilization, but most of that was blamed on the strike at General Motors (GM), which contributed to a 0.7% decline in the manufacturing output for durables.

Today we’ll have the second-tier September Leading Economic Indicators, expected to decline slightly. We do, however, have plenty of speakers from the Federal Reserve, probably heading for three-day weekends wherever they’re speaking. Dallas’s Kaplan, Kansas City’s George, Minneapolis’s Kashkari, Fed Vice Chair Richard Clarida, and… oh, wait? Kaplan is back, speaking for the second time! Friday begins with rates little changed from Thursday: the 10-year is yielding 1.77% and Agency MBS prices are worse/down a tick or two (32nds).

Jobs and Changes

Optimal Blue continues to expand and with growth, comes opportunity! The company is actively searching for a SALES SOLUTIONS SPECIALIST – CAPITAL MARKETS, located on the West coast. What is a Sales Solutions Specialists? They are the product experts responsible for delivering specialized product and market expertise to prospective Optimal Blue clients. The ideal candidate is a sales-minded individual with extensive capital markets experience, a detailed understanding of all aspects of secondary marketing, and experience with multiple hedging platforms. This is a great opportunity for an individual to capitalize on the experience and reputation they have built in the mortgage industry. Visit the corporate careers page to learn more about this opportunity and joining the innovative team at Optimal Blue.

Polygon Mortgage is actively hiring purchase-focused Loan Consultants to work as the exclusive lender for Polygon Northwest Homes, the #1 home builder in Oregon and a top home builder in Washington state. Polygon Mortgage is affiliated with ClosingMark Home Loans™ which is one of the fastest growing mortgage lenders in the United States, and provides a superior platform for Loan Consultants looking to grow their purchase volume. “We have everything a Loan Consultant needs to be wildly successful, and our exclusive relationship with Polygon Northwest makes this an extremely attractive opportunity,” said Heidi Iverson, VP Talent Acquisition & Development. Polygon Northwest is also a proud division of William Lyon Homes, one of the nation’s largest homebuilders. Contact Heidi Iverson, VP Talent Acquisition & Development to learn more about the positions in Bellevue, WA and Kirkland, OR and other open positions available nationwide within the entire ClosingMark Financial Group.

The Wholesale Lending Production opportunity you've been looking for has just found you! We are an expanding over twenty-year old East Coast Regional Wholesale lender adding AE’s and Managers from Connecticut down to Florida. We price strong and we write Agency, Government and Non-QM product. We provide one of the Best Fulfillment Platforms in the Country! This is a great opportunity for confident TPO Professionals who know their customers and value working in an entrepreneurial self-managing environment. Yep, no Call Reports, no Micromanaging, your production writes your success! We got the track and we will support your run! No Overlays, No Hassle, No Nonsense! Contact Scott Karch at 908-293-2218 for more details!

Freddie Mac announced that Frank Nazzaro has been named EVP and chief information officer (CIO) of the company. He is a member of the senior operating committee and reports directly to CEO David Brickman. Frank’s been with Freddie for a year as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and has been Acting CIO since May 2019.

FormFree announced it has appointed 30-year industry vet Christy Moss, CMB as director of partner relationships to “strengthen and grow industry partnerships and cultivate internal talent as leader of the company’s strategic sales team.”

CrossCountry Mortgage, LLC announced the appointment of Chris Knapp to the position of EVP responsible for recruiting as well as setting and achieving sales and production goals across the country.