Housing

The Federal Housing Finance Agency may face legislation or a lawsuit in the near future as it tries to force captive insurance companies to exit the Federal Home Loan Bank System.

In one corner are groups like the Community Home Lenders Association and the major credit union groups, which are hoping the administration will further cut premiums after a reduction a year ago. In the other are the MBA and the ICBA, which argue a cut now would be too soon.

Executives of Wells Fargo, especially CEO John Stumpf, have repeatedly insisted that the economy (and their bank) will be fine despite the collapse in oil prices. But now they are acknowledging efforts to think about what happens if they are wrong.

The reverse mortgage industry is optimistic after recent reforms to the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage by the FHA and newfound respect from financial planners.

Financial services issues that helped define a presidency were largely absent from Tuesday's State of the Union address, including the crucial policy items that have not yet been resolved.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has rejected a nonprofit housing group's allegations of racial discrimination against U.S. Bank. HUD found that the bank properly maintain foreclosed homes in predominantly black and Hispanic neighborhoods and in some cases spent more rehabilitating the homes than in white areas.

Community bankers and credit unions scored a significant victory while others in the mortgage industry lost out in the Federal Housing Finance Agency's final rule establishing membership standards for the Home Loan banks.

The agency scrapped a part of its 2014 proposal that would have required Home Loan bank members to maintain a certain percentage of residential mortgage assets in order to keep their membership. But it held fast on a provision that would disqualify captive insurance firms from membership.

But the strong demand for tax credits from those projects is also whittling down the investment returns as their riskiness declines, according to a new report by the New York-based accounting firm CohnReznick.

A recent tax change will provide more stability to banks and developers that use the low-income housing tax credit program, and the supply of below-market-rate apartments should increase as a result. But it's not enough to create the economic incentives needed to meet skyrocketing demand for affordable housing in the U.S.

Some lenders have asked whether the bureau would adjust its so-called resubmission guidelines — which determine whether lenders have to refile data based on errors found in samples — and it has responded with a request for further industry input.

Banks can help ease a severe national shortage in affordable rental properties — and make money doing it.

Officials who assess how well banks lend and invest in their communities seem out of sync with the experiences of Main Street.

Some lost their jobs while others made major missteps or faced serious challenges to their business plans. Here are the folks who had a rough 2015 and are looking forward to better times in 2016.

A proposal issued two weeks ago by the FHFA calls on the two government-sponsored enterprises to identify opportunities to increase their purchases of small multifamily properties in rural areas, sparking some concern among lenders.

The more aggressive nonbank lenders are attracting top producers by essentially allowing loan officers to set their own rate of pay. While so-called "pick-a-pay" compensation plans are not illegal, critics say they can encourage loan officers to steer consumers into more expensive loans in order to increase their own pay.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are telling lenders that they are willing to retain loans with defects if they believe the defects are minor and can be fixed. But Freddie is one-upping Fannie by offering to retain such loans without charging lenders a fee.

Existing-home sales plummeted in November, confirming fears in the mortgage industry that a new consumer disclosure rule is delaying mortgage closings.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is giving private mortgage insurers some hope this holiday season that they might get a change to offer deeper mortgage insurance on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac single-family loans.

Some mortgage investors are refusing to buy home loans that are at risk of violations of new consumer-disclosure rules. The problem appears to be worst among nonagency jumbo loans purchased by private investors.