WASHINGTON — Senate appropriators approved $13 million in new funding to update the Federal Housing Administration's "outdated and unautomated" information technology systems, but rejected President Obama's proposed way of paying for it.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development has been seeking additional funding to modernize its own and the FHA's IT systems for several years.
But the Senate subcommittee again rejected the Obama administration's proposal to pay for the update by levying a 4-basis-point fee on lenders. This fee would cost a lender $40 on a $100,000 loan.
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The Federal Housing Administration said Tuesday that it has revised its proposed lender certification requirements in an effort to provide more clarity and reassure lenders they won't be penalized for minor loan defects or mistakes.
March 15 -
Ginnie Mae needs more, and better-paid, staff to keep up with growing risks on nonbank seller/servicers, the watchdog agency head said.
March 15 -
The half-a-percentage-point reduction in the Federal Housing Administration mortgage insurance premium provided a bigger pop to the housing market than expected, according to Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics.
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"The subcommittee bill rejects the administration's proposal to fund the IT modernization by way of a lender fee," said Chip Unruh, a spokesman for the Senate Transportation, Housing and Urban Development subcommittee.
Overall, the fiscal year 2017 appropriations bill approved by the subcommittee includes $273 million for HUD's IT systems — $23 million above the fiscal 2016 level, with $13 million of the increase going to FHA.
"This funding will ensure FHA is able to retire some of its current IT systems to effectively adapt to changes in the housing industry, economic trends, and post-housing-crisis legislation," according to a summary of the bill.
