The House of Representatives quickly passed a slimmed-down FHA reform bill Friday that appears to be an attempt to make it easier for the Senate to pass legislation before the August recess.
The bill (H.R. 5981) gives FHA more flexibility to adjust its mortgage insurance premium structure and help rebuild the insurance fund's capital reserves. Allowing the agency to raise its annual premiums would increase FHA's revenues by $300 million a month, according to Department of Housing and Urban Development officials.
Senators Mark Begich, D-Aka., Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and David Vitter, R-La., have been working to pass a larger FHA reform bill. The House actually passed a more expansive FHA reform bill back in June, a measure that allows the agency to raise its annual premium from 0.55% up to 1.55%. That bill (H.R. 5072) also strengthens the insurer's hand in getting lenders to indemnify FHA for bad loans and terminate firms with excessive early default rates.
But odds are increasing the Senate will go with a slimmed down version (H.R. 5981) that only raises the annual premiums.
"The problem is the larger bill also includes important enforcement powers for FHA" to manage its $857 billion insured portfolio, said Howard Glaser, who runs a Washington legislative and regulatory consulting firm, the Glaser Group.
"Regardless of what happens in the Senate. FHA is still going to need those powers," he said.
Daily Briefing | Tuesday, September 7, 2010
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South Florida Foreclosures Near $65 Billion
Borrowers have defaulted to the tune of nearly $65 billion in financing in the tri-county South Florida region since the real estate crash began in 2007, according to a new report from CondoVultures.com.
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Investment Fund Buys FDIC NPLs
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FHA Refi Program for Underwater Loans Unveiled
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California the 'Golden State' for Home Lending During the Decade
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Residential Servicing Balances Continue to Fall
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Roughly 55% of Bank Donations to go to GOP
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New Tool Speeds Up Delivery
Warren, Michigan-based provider of commercial and residential mortgage default management solutions Five Brothers has introduced a new tool that helps speed up and simplify the preparation, delivery, notarization and tracking of all mortgage documents.
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Warren for CFPB Chief Speculation Continues to Mount
The speculation over whether Harvard professor Elizabeth Warren will be nominated as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau refuses to die.
