Mortgages MAX

Posted To: MND NewsWire
The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) is moving to reduce risks to its single-family insurance fund through new regulations proposed today. The changes, announced by FHA Commissioner David Stevens, include increasing the net worth requirements of FHA-approved lenders from the current level of $250,000 to a minimum of $1 million within the first year after the rules become effective and to at least $2.5 million within three years of rule implementation. The changes would ensure that FHA lenders are sufficiently capitalized to meet potential needs so that FHA can mitigate losses from and risks to the insurance fund. Under a second proposed change, lenders seeking approval to originate, underwrite, or service FHA loans must meet the eligibility criteria for a supervised or non-supervised mortgagee…(read more)
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Original post by Jann Swanson

Posted To: MBS Commentary
It was a fairly anticlimactic trading day on which to hit the highest closing prices in the history of the 4.5 MBS. With limited data to either douse the dreams or fuel the fires of Dubai-induced flights to quality, bonds were forced to turn to Chicago PMI as the sole appetizer to a more robust offering of post-holiday fare later in the week. And as is the case in many households, sometimes the most anticipated part of Thanksgiving is the week of leftovers that follows. Whatever the case, the rest of your charts this week will not be the orderly movement of decreasing volatility within a range as seen below. The theme even plays out in the long term chart as we can see wider and more volatile ranges evolving into the more narrow and contained rally that has defined recent months. More of a…(read more)
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Original post by Matthew Graham

Posted To: Voice of Housing
Treasury is becoming impatient with servicer performance despite their investments and success with processing trial loan modifications. The program was/is targeted to help 3-4 million homeowners that were distressed or where imminent default within 60 days was likely. Treasury provided servicers with real economic incentive to aggressively pursue and negotiate loan modifications with the prospect of an up-front fee of $1,000 for each modification ($1,500 if the borrower was current) and $1,000 a year in which the borrower makes their modified payments. Consider that net income to servicers was $161 in 2008, per MBA Cost Study, and you’ve got one heck of an opportunity to make a lot of money while “doing good” as a servicer. Servicers have hired thousands of people over the…(read more)
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Original post by Tim Rood