NY Times Feature: Life Without Fannie or Freddie

Imagining Life Without Fannie and Freddie
By GRETCHEN MORGENSON


Published: February 12, 2011

KUDOS to Treasury and the Department of Housing and Urban Development for some straight talk about the nation’s broken mortgage system.

A report to Congress from those departments, published on Friday, provided some long-awaited analysis by the Obama administration about what went wrong in housing finance — and how to fix it.

The report, entitled “Reforming America’s Housing Finance Market,” zeros in on the perverse incentives created by the nation’s mortgage complex during the years leading up to the panic of 2008. The Treasury’s recommendation that we wind down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and let the private mortgage market step in is spot on.
Still, it is not clear that such moves, sensible though they are, will be enough to prevent taxpayers from having to bail out institutions that back mortgages in the future. That is because the debate over how to put the Treasury’s ideas into effect will soon become a brawl. Powerful participants are already working overtime to keep taxpayers on the hook.  CLICK HERE for Full Article

MSNBC reports Plan Launched to assist Underwater Borrowers

Federal assistance for homeowners in trouble on their mortgage

By ALAN ZIBEL

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is trying to jump-start its sputtering attempts to tackle the foreclosure crisis with an effort to assist homeowners who owe more on their properties than their homes are worth.

Starting Tuesday, the Federal Housing Administration will permit lenders to give these borrowers refinanced loans backed by the government. The lenders will be required to forgive at least 10 percent of the original mortgage amount. Investors who have control over the mortgages as part of their large portfolios will select which borrowers are invited to participate.
The plan was first announced in March. Its rollout represents the latest of numerous efforts by the administration to address the housing bust. So far, the government has only nibbled around the edges of the crisis, as its programs have run into numerous problems.
The lending industry was ill-prepared for a crush of distressed homeowners, the economy worsened and millions of homeowners had taken on so much debt that their financial woes have been nearly impossible to resolve.
Nearly half of the 1.3 million homeowners who have enrolled in the Obama administration's main mortgage-relief program — overseen by the Treasury Department — have already fallen out over the past year.CLICK HERE FOR FULL ARTICLE

Program to Modify Loans Loses Steam

Wall Street Journal Online discusses struggling loan modification program

By NICK TIMIRAOS

The Obama administration's loan-modification program appears to be running out of eligible borrowers who can qualify for restructured loans.
The number of homeowners who began government-sponsored loan-modifications in July grew by the slowest rate since the program began nearly 18 months ago and was dwarfed by the number of borrowers whose modifications were canceled.
Half of the 1.3 million modifications that have been extended to borrowers have been canceled since the program began, and around one-third, or around 422,000 borrowers, have received permanent loan modifications.
So far, the Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP, has helped hold back the shadow inventory of more than seven million loans that are delinquent or in some stage of foreclosure, which has helped home prices to stabilize over the past year.
In July, nearly 17,000 new trial modifications were started. More than five times as many borrowers saw their reduced-payment programs canceled, either because they failed to make payments, didn't provide necessary financial documents, or didn't meet qualification guidelines Click Here for Full Article

U.S. Plans Big Expansion in Effort to Aid Homeowners

New York Times Reports:

The Obama administration on Friday will announce broad new initiatives to help troubled homeowners, potentially refinancing several million of them into fresh government-backed mortgages with lower payments.

Click HERE for Full article on Nytimes.com

FHA Announces Policy Changes to Address Risk and Strengthen Finances

New Measures Will Help FHA Better Manage Risk, While Maintaining Support for the Housing Market and Access for Underserved Communities

WASHINGTON – Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Commissioner David Stevens today announced a set of policy changes to strengthen the FHA’s capital reserves, while enabling the agency to continue to fulfill its mission to provide access to homeownership for underserved communities. The changes announced today are the latest in a series of changes Stevens has enacted in order to better position the FHA to manage its risk while continuing to support the nation’s housing 
market recovery.

The FHA will propose to take the following steps: increase the mortgage insurance premium (MIP); update the combination of FICO scores and down payments for new borrowers; reduce seller concessions to three percent, from six percent; and implement a series of significant measures aimed at increasing lender enforcement. U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan previewed the changes in December of last year, noting that the FHA would announce additional details before the end of January.

“Striking the right balance between managing the FHA’s risk, continuing to provide access to underserved communities, and supporting the nation’s economic recovery is critically important,” said Commissioner Stevens. “When combined with the risk management measures announced in September of last year, these changes are among the most significant steps to address risk in the agency’s history. Additionally, by continuing to provide affordable, responsible mortgage products, FHA will support the housing market’s recovery. Importantly, FHA will remain the largest source of home purchase financing for underserved communities.”

Announced FHA Policy Changes:

1. Mortgage insurance premium (MIP) will be increased to build up capital reserves and bring back private lending
• The first step will be to raise the up-front MIP by 50 bps to 2.25% and request legislative authority to increase the maximum annual MIP that the FHA can charge.
• If this authority is granted, then the second step will be to shift some of the premium increase from the up-front MIP to the annual MIP.
• This shift will allow for the capital reserves to increase with less impact to the consumer, because the annual MIP is paid over the life of the loan instead of at the time of closing
• The initial up-front increase is included in a Mortgagee Letter to be released tomorrow, January 21st, and will go into effect in the spring.
2. Update the combination of FICO scores and down payments for new borrowers.
• New borrowers will now be required to have a minimum FICO score of 580 to qualify for FHA's 3.5% down payment program. New borrowers with less than a 580 FICO score will be required to put down at least 10%.
• This allows the FHA to better balance its risk and continue to provide access for those borrowers who have historically performed well.
• This change will be posted in the Federal Register in February and, after a notice and comment period, would go into effect in the early summer.
3. Reduce allowable seller concessions from 6% to 3%
• The current level exposes the FHA to excess risk by creating incentives to inflate appraised value. This change will bring FHA into conformity with industry standards on seller concessions.
• This change will be posted in the Federal Register in February, and after a notice and comment period, would go into effect in the early summer.
4. Increase enforcement on FHA lenders
• Publicly report lender performance rankings to complement currently available Neighborhood Watch data - Will be available on the HUD website on February 1.
• This is an operational change to make information more user-friendly and hold lenders more accountable; it does not require new regulatory action as Neighborhood Watch data is currently publicly available.
• Enhance monitoring of lender performance and compliance with FHA guidelines and standards.
• Implement Credit Watch termination through lender underwriting ID in addition to originating ID.
• This change is included in a Mortgagee Letter to be released tomorrow, January 21st, and is effective immediately.
• Implement statutory authority through regulation of section 256 of the National Housing Act to enforce indemnification provisions for lenders using delegated insuring process
• Specifications of this change will be posted in March, and after a notice and comment period, would go into effect in early summer.
• HUD is pursuing legislative authority to increase enforcement on FHA lenders. Specific authority includes:
• Amendment of section 256 of the National Housing Act to apply indemnification provisions to all Direct Endorsement lenders. This would require all approved mortgagees to assume liability for all of the loans that they originate and underwrite
• Legislative authority permitting HUD maximum flexibility to establish separate "areas" for purposes of review and termination under the Credit Watch initiative. This would provide authority to withdraw originating and underwriting approval for a lender nationwide on the basis of the performance of its regional branches

In addition to the changes proposed today, the FHA is continuing to review its overall response to housing market conditions, and continuing to evaluate its mortgage insurance underwriting standards and its measures to help distressed and underwater borrowers through FHA/HAMP and other FHA initiatives going forward.

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HUD is the nation's housing agency committed to sustaining homeownership; creating affordable housing opportunities for low-income Americans; and supporting the homeless, elderly, people with disabilities and people living with AIDS. The Department also promotes economic and community development ad enforces the nation's fair housing laws. More information about HUD and its programs is available on the Internet at www.hud.gov and espanol.hud.gov.

 Thank you Deb Levy for sharing this information with us...