The Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced $1.6 million in settlements with CitiMortgage Inc. and two major homebuilders who engaged in captive title reinsurance arrangements.The agreements, which contain no admission of wrongdoing, included a $650,000 settlement with CitiMortgage and its captive title reinsurance company, Chesapeake Reinsurance; a $675,000 settlement with M.D.C. Holdings Inc., certain homebuilding subsidiaries, and AHT Reinsurance; and a $305,000 settlement with WL Homes, a California and Colorado builder doing business as John Laing Homes. "HUD will continue to work with the states to investigate captive arrangements to make certain that they aren't created for the purpose of obscuring referral fees," said Brian Montgomery, HUD's assistant secretary for housing. (Captive reinsurance is a practice whereby a title insurance company transfers a portion of the risk and title premium to a company owned by the builder, lender, or real estate broker referring the title business.) CitiMortgage said it exited the title reinsurance business last year. "We strongly believe we were totally compliant with RESPA and HUD guidelines when we were engaged in that business, but we have agreed to a settlement in order to avoid the time and expense of protracted litigation," a CitiMortgage spokesman said. The homebuilders could not be reached for comment by MortgageWire's deadline.
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The increasing frequency and severity of droughts was top of mind for panelists at AmeriCatalyst's "Going to Extremes" conference Thursday.
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In a Senate hearing, Director Sandra Thompson said a raise to the required income threshold provided to affordable housing was on the table, while housing regulators also faced questions related to property insurance hikes and title insurance waivers.
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The nonpayment rate for non-qualified mortgages is up 21 basis points from February and 134 basis points from March 2023, Morningstar DBRS said.
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The government mortgage-bond guarantor will require additional information on foreclosure prevention actions, and retire some forbearance reporting.
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But views are split, at least in the near-term on whether rising mortgage rates are holding back the Spring home purchase season.
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The top five producers had an average dollar volume of FHA loans of more than $50 million in 2023.
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