A reduction in the origination fee on Federal House Administration-insured reverse mortgages could discourage lenders from offering the product and crimp the program's growth, according to a Congressional Budget Office cost estimate of the FHA reform bill (H.R. 1852).The CBO estimates that the FHA would endorse about 110,000 home equity conversion mortgages in fiscal year 2008 if the reform bill is enacted, and HECM originations would grow at about 2%-4% annually. Last year, the CBO estimated that the FHA could see HECM originations jump to 160,000 loans in a few years. But that was before an amendment to reduce origination fees was attached to H.R. 1852 during a committee mark-up. "A lower origination fee could increase the program's attractiveness to some borrowers, assuming lenders do not increase interest rates significantly to compensate for lower origination fees," the CBO says.
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The new Financial Stability Oversight Council report also recommends an expanded Ginnie Mae PTAP facility and an industry-funded liquidity resource.
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The publicly traded title holding companies all had stronger earnings as the mortgage market improved from one year prior.
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One in every 37 residential properties nationwide had a loan-to-value ratio of 125% or greater to begin the year, according to a new report.
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There's temporary leeway on formal compliance with replacement-cost value requirements in order to sort out insurer concerns with a recent re-emphasis on them.
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Max Levchin, CEO of the buy now/pay later lender, said recent tests show young adults prefer interacting with intelligent chatbots over phone-based agents, but the company doesn't foresee major cost savings from generative AI for a few more years.
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May 10