Safeguard Properties

MHA HAMP Reporting Update GSE HAMP Modifications ? Dodd Frank Certification (DFC) Signature Date Reporting

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Investor Update
June 10, 2016

Per MHA policy waiver Ref. ID 20160510, loans with a Sixth Anniversary Date of January 1, 2016 and prior with an executed DFC or GSE equivalent on or before January 31, 2016 are eligible to receive the $5,000.00 Borrower Pay for Performance incentive if the loan was in good standing on the Sixth Anniversary Date and had not been paid in full.

All servicers with loans meeting these criteria should report them into the HAMP® Reporting Tool using the approved reporting workaround for the Dodd-Frank Certification Signature Date field (DD1117) to indicate a value of 1/1/16. Once such loans are reported into the HAMP Reporting Tool, the associated incentive payments will be processed and disbursed the same month they are reported.

Questions?
Email the HAMP Solution center or call 1-866-939-4469.

Source: MHA

HUD Awards $42 Million in Housing Counseling Grants

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Investor Update
June 21, 2016

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today awarded more than $42 million in housing counseling grants to hundreds of national, regional and local organizations to help families and individuals with their housing needs and to prevent future foreclosures. HUD’s housing counseling grants and the additional funding they leverage will assist more than 1.4 million households find housing, make more informed housing choices, or keep their current homes. See list of all counseling agencies awarded funding today.

June is National Homeownership Month, a time HUD recognizes how homeownership enhances lives and contributes to thriving communities. “Dare to Own the Dream” is the theme of this month-long recognition, reinforcing the long-held belief that owning a home remains one of the cornerstones of the American Dream. The grants awarded today were announced at a White House gathering to mark National Homeownership Month.

HUD Secretary Julián Castro said, “Housing counselors provide potential homeowners with the tools they need to ensure they’re ready and responsible. Their efforts give countless families a real shot at the American Dream of homeownership. The counseling organizations HUD supports are on the front lines in providing the full spectrum of services households need – from locating affordable rental housing, offering advice on how to become a homeowner, and preventing foreclosure.”

More than $40 million will directly support the housing counseling services provided by 31 national and regional organizations, five multi-state organizations, 17 State Housing Finance Agencies (SHFAs) and 181 local housing counseling agencies. In addition, HUD is awarding $2 million to four national organizations to train housing counselors who will receive the instruction and certification necessary to effectively assist families with their housing needs.

National and regional agencies distribute much of HUD’s housing counseling grant funding to community-based organizations that assist low- and moderate-income families to improve their housing conditions. In addition, these larger organizations help improve the quality of housing counseling services and enhance coordination among counseling providers. Read a comprehensive summary of each grant.

Counseling improveshousing outcomes for homebuyers, homeowners, and renters. Last month, HUD published research findings summarizing the impact of housing counseling has on families’ housing options and choices.  Read more. In addition, recent research from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia and the Urban Institute continues to find substantial benefits to housing counseling for families who purchase their first homes and those struggling to prevent foreclosure.

Grant recipients address the full range of families’ housing counseling needs. This includes helping homebuyers evaluate their readiness for a home purchase, understand their financing and down payment options, and navigate what can be an extremely confusing and difficult homebuying process. The organization also help households find affordable rental housing and offer financial literacy training to individuals and families struggling to repair credit problems that restrict their housing options.

In addition to providing counseling to homeowners and renters, these organizations assist homeless persons in finding the transitional housing they need to move toward a permanent place to live. Finally, grantees also assist senior citizens seeking reverse mortgages. These agencies provide counseling for the rapidly growing number of elderly homeowners who seek to convert equity in their homes into income that can be used to pay for home improvements, medical costs, and other living expenses.

Housing counseling agencies support fair housing by assisting borrowers in reviewing their loan documentation, to avoid potential mortgage scams, unreasonably high interest rates, inflated appraisals, unaffordable repayment terms, and other conditions that can result in a loss of equity, increased debt, default, and even foreclosure. Likewise, foreclosure prevention counseling helps homeowners facing delinquency or default employ strategies, including expense reduction, negotiation with lenders and loan servicers, and loss mitigation, to avoid foreclosure.

There are many ways to find a HUD-approved housing counseling agency. Visit HUD’s website or call (800) 569-4287 for our interactive telephone directory. Get the free housing counseling i-phone app from the app store (not yet available for android). Watch HUD’s video on how housing counseling can help families find (and keep) housing. 

Source: HUD

Additional Resource:
DS News (HUD Invests in Counseling for Foreclosure Prevention)

Freddie Mac: Technology System Hours for Independence Day

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Investor Update
June 25, 2016

In observance of the Independence Day holiday, please review a complete list of system and customer service hours of operation for Freddie Mac technologies.

Technology System Alerts
Only Freddie Mac customers who are subscribed to our Technology System Alerts emails will receive notification of holiday hours.

Source: Freddie Mac

Freddie Mac Extends Disaster Relief to Eligible Borrowers in West Virginia

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Investor Update
June 27, 2016

MCLEAN, VA–(Marketwired – Jun 27, 2016) – Freddie Mac’s (OTCQB: FMCC) full menu of disaster relief policies is now available to homeowners whose homes or place of employment were damaged or destroyed by floods in West Virginia. Freddie Mac’s disaster relief policies are available to borrowers with homes in presidentially declared Major Disaster Areas where federal Individual Assistance programs are being made available to affected individuals and households. Freddie Mac is one of the nation’s largest investors in residential mortgages.

“If your West Virginia home, business or employer was harmed by the floods now is the time to call your mortgage servicer to discuss temporary mortgage relief. Freddie Mac’s disaster relief options include forbearance, in some cases for as long as year, for borrowers whose mortgages are owned or guaranteed by Freddie Mac,” said Yvette Gilmore, vice president of single-family servicer performance management, Freddie Mac.

Freddie Mac disaster relief policies authorize mortgage servicers to help affected borrowers in presidentially declared Major Disaster Areas where federal Individual Assistance programs have been extended. (Servicers and borrowers can find an updated list of these areas at http://www.fema.gov/disasters.)

Freddie Mac disaster relief policies include suspending foreclosures by providing forbearance for up to 12 months, waiving penalties or late fees against borrowers with disaster-damaged homes; and not reporting forbearance or delinquencies caused by the disaster to the nation’s credit bureaus.

Freddie Mac is also reminding servicers to consider borrowers who work in eligible disaster areas, but have homes in unaffected areas, for Freddie Mac’s standard relief policies, which include forbearance or mortgage modifications.
See http://www.freddiemac.com/singlefamily/service for a description of Freddie Mac disaster relief policies.

Source: Freddie Mac

Additional Resource: 
FEMA (Presidential Disaster Declaration for West Virginia)

Freddie Mac: Avoid Roadblocks! Use Your Workout Settlements Roadmap

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Investor Update
June 30, 2016

We’ve updated our Workout Settlements website with additional tips to help you successfully navigate and complete your settlements.
 
The new Workout Settlements Spotlight addresses common questions and issues we’ve heard about from you. We’ll update it periodically to provide you with helpful insights into the settlement process.
 
Check out the June Spotlight today!
 
For More Information

  • Visit the updated Workout Settlements website.
  • Read more about our Workout Settlements website here.
  • Visit Freddie Mac’s Learning Center for more on our training programs and reference tools.
  • Contact your Freddie Mac representative.

Source: Freddie Mac

FHLMC Guide Bulletin 2016-10: Servicing Updates

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Investor Update
June 8, 2016

In Single-Family Seller/Servicer Guide (Guide) Bulletin 2016-10, we’re revising requirements related to the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP®) expiration, extending the Lender-Placed Insurance (LPI) deductibles mandatory effective date for certain Servicers, and more.
 
Our shared commitment to servicing excellence means we’re always looking for ways to make things better, one change at a time.

Key Highlights

  • As the HAMP program winds down at the end of 2016, we’re aligning with certain expiration dates and removing HAMP-specific forms and references from our solicitation requirements so we aren’t promoting an imminently-ending program.
  • We’re extending the mandatory effective date for LPI deductibles for certain Servicers that use American Modern Insurance Group (AMIG) as their LPI provider. The revised effective date for Servicers that use AMIG is on or after July 1, 2017.
  • Servicers must use IRS Form 1099-C when reporting a cancellation of debt in connection with a short sale.


Reminders


For More Information

 

Source: Freddie Mac

FHLMC Guide Bulletin 2016-12: Selling and Servicing Updates

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Investor Update
June 29, 2016

Today’s Single-Family Seller/Servicer Guide (Guide) Bulletin 2016-12, announces a variety of selling and servicing updates, including:
 
ARM Lifetime Floor

  • Revising Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae ARM Notes and Riders and Freddie Mac ARM Notes and Riders to include new language imposing a Lifetime Floor equal to the ARM’s margin.

Freddie Mac Technology

  • Consolidating certain technology licenses for Freddie Mac tools and systems, including tools in Freddie Mac Loan Advisor SuiteSM, into a Master Systems License.
  • Replacing references to Loan Prospector® with Loan Product AdvisorSM.
  • Updating the Guide Glossary to include a definition for “Servicing Tool.” Servicing Tools governed by an existing license, user agreement or similar document continue to be subject to the same terms and conditions and are not subject to the Master License.

Home Possible® Mortgages

  • Eliminating the requirement that Sellers obtain a signed borrower consent form at or before closing that authorizes the release of the borrower’s information to a counseling agency in the event of a delinquency.
  • Updating Loan Prospector and the Affordable Income and Property Eligibility tool on June 30, 2016, with the 2016 area median income (AMI) estimates issued by the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
  • Many of the 2016 estimates are lower than the AMI estimates for 2015. As a result, Home Possible mortgages underwritten using the 2015 AMI limits may no longer be eligible for sale. If a Home Possible mortgage received an “Accept-Eligible” evaluation prior to June 30, 2016, but receives an “Accept-Ineligible” when resubmitted to Loan Prospector on or after June 30, 2016, due only to the AMI estimates, Freddie Mac will honor the original Loan Prospector Feedback Certificate for “eligibility” and purchase the mortgage provided that certain conditions are met.

Review today’s Guide Bulletin for details on the above changes and other updates.
 
For More Information

  • Review Guide Bulletin 2016-12 [pdf].
  • Visit the Freddie Mac Uniform Instrument News and Updates web page.
  • Read the Single-Family News Center article on what current users can expect when Loan Advisor Suite deploys.
  • Visit the Loan Advisor Suite web page.
  • Contact your Freddie Mac representative.

Source: Freddie Mac

FHFA Releases Data on Non-Performing Loan Sales

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Investor Update
June 30, 2016

Washington, D.C. – The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today released its first report providing information about the sale of non-performing loans (NPLs) by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises).  The Enterprise Non-Performing Loan Sales Report includes NPL sales data through May 31, 2016 and preliminary outcomes for borrowers through December 31, 2015.  NPL sales reduce the number of severely delinquent loans in the Enterprises’ portfolios and the rules are subject to FHFA requirements that encourage NPL buyers to prioritize outcomes for borrowers other than foreclosure. 

“This report reflects the first available results since the Enterprises started to sell NPLs and since we put in place enhanced requirements for servicing these loans,” said FHFA Director Melvin L. Watt.  “The report demonstrates our commitment to transparency as we work to achieve more favorable outcomes for borrowers and for the Enterprises by providing alternatives to foreclosure whenever possible. Because the program is new, we have only preliminary data about outcomes to share, but we will continue to provide regular reports as we gain new outcome information,” said Watt. 

The report shows that, as of the end of May of this year, the Enterprises have sold over 41,600 NPLs with a total unpaid principal balance of $8.5 billion.

  • ?The NPLs had an average delinquency of 3.4 years and an average current loan-to-value ratio of 98 percent. 
  • New Jersey, Florida and New York accounted for nearly half of the NPLs sold.
  • A nonprofit organization, Community Loan Fund of New Jersey, was the winning bidder on five of six small, geographically concentrated pools sold by the Enterprises through May 2016 and is a service provider for the sixth pool.

The outcomes in the report are based on only the 8,849 NPLs that were sold by June 30, 2015 and reflect outcomes only through December 31, 2015. This preliminary outcome information suggests the following:  

  • NPLs where the home is occupied by the borrower had a higher rate of foreclosure avoidance (13 percent foreclosure avoided versus 6.2 for vacant properties).
  • NPLs on which the property was vacant had a much higher rate of foreclosure (21.3 percent foreclosure versus 8.5 percent for borrower occupied properties), which is viewed by FHFA as favorable in light on FHFA’s belief that foreclosure of  vacant homes can improve neighborhood stability and reduce blight as the homes are sold or rented to new occupants.
  • To date, only 24 percent of the 8,849 NPLs have been resolved, 12 percent without foreclosure and 12 percent through foreclosure.
  • Compared to a benchmark of similarly delinquent Enterprise NPLs that were not sold, foreclosures for NPLs sold trended lower than the benchmark loans the Enterprises did not sell (21 percent of NPLs that have been with the new servicers the longest avoided foreclosure compared to 14 percent of the benchmark NPLs).

Future NPL Sales Reports are expected to be published twice each year.

Link to Non-Performing Loan Sales Report?

?Link to NPL page on FHFA.gov? (Guidelines, etc.)

Contacts:
Media: Corinne Russell (202) 649-3032 / Stefanie Johnson (202) 649-3030
C?onsumers: Consumer Communications or (202) 649-3811?

Source: FHFA

FHFA Releases 2015 Report to Congress

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Investor Update
June 15, 2016

Washington, D.C. – The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today released its 2015 Report to Congress.  The statutorily-required report provides information about FHFA’s 2015 examinations of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac (the Enterprises), 11 Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBanks) and the FHLBanks’ Office of Finance.  The report also describes FHFA’s actions as conservator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during the year and it describes the Agency’s regulatory guidance, research and publications.  

Link to 2015 Report to Congress

Contacts:
?Media: Stefanie Johnson (202) 649-3030 / Corinne Russell (202) 649-3032
Consumers: Consumer Communications or (202) 649-3811

Source: FHFA

FHFA: Foreclosure Prevention Actions Approach 3.7 Million Through First Quarter 2016

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Investor Update
June 23, 2016

Washington, D.C. – The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today reported that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac completed 49,573 foreclosure prevention actions in the first quarter of 2016, bringing the total number of foreclosure prevention actions to nearly 3.7 million since the start of the conservatorships in September 2008.  These measures have helped more than 3.0 million borrowers stay in their homes, including nearly 1.9 million who received permanent loan modifications.   

Further details can be found in FHFA’s first quarter Foreclosure Prevention Report?, which also includes data on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac home retention actions, delinquency data and real estate owned (REO) inventory.  FHFA publishes the report data in an online, interactive Borrower Assistance Map accessible through FHFA.gov. 

Other foreclosure prevention data for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac noted in the quarterly report include:

  • The number of loans 60+ days delinquent declined another 10 percent during the quarter, dipping to 461,696, the lowest level since the first quarter of 2008.
  • The serious delinquency rate of Fa?nnie Mae and Freddie Mac loans continued to decline, settling at 1.3 percent at the end of the first quarter, down significantly from a peak of 4.93 percent in the first quarter of 2010.
  • REO inventory fell 9 percent during the quarter to 66,277, as property dispositions continued to outpace property acquisitions.

Link to Report?

Contacts:
Media: Corinne Russell (202) 649-3032 / Stefanie Johnson (202) 649-3030
Consumers: Consumer Communications or (202) 649-3811

Source: FHFA