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19
FHA EXTENDS
DEADLINE
FOR HECM
DELINQUENCIES
e Federal Housing Administration
(FHA) has given HECM (home equity
conversion mortgage) borrowers more time by
extending the deadline for lenders or servicers
to submit due and payable notices when
HECM borrowers or spouses are delinquent
on property taxes or insurance payments.
In Mortgagee Letter 2016-01 issued
recently, FHA Principal Deputy Assistant
Secretary Ed Golding announced that the
deadline has been extended for lenders and
servicers until April 17, 2016, to file the due and
payment notices in accordance with changes
made by the FHA last April. e extra
time was added to give servicers more time
to pursue loss mitigation options such as an
HECM Loss Mitigation Repayment Plan for
their delinquent tax and insurance payments,
according to FHA.
FHA stated in the original policy
announcement last April that "Mortgagees
must inform mortgagors in writing that they
have thirty (30) days to respond to a Due and
Payable Notice. All Due and Payable Notices
sent to mortgagors must reference available
loss mitigation options, if any, and inform
the mortgagor of his/her ability to sell his/
her property or execute a Deed-in-Lieu of
foreclosure."
e original policy statement also requires
mortgagees to refer borrowers to a HUD-
approved counseling agency before initiating
the foreclosure procedure.
Recently extension of the deadline was
the second such extension. Last April, the
FHA established a timeline of 180 days from
the date the policy was issued (April 23, 2015)
to file the notices related to tax & insurance
delinquencies. In October 2015, FHA
announced that the deadline was extended
until January 18, 2016.
The approximate number of
completed foreclosures nationwide
in November 2015, a 19 percent
decline from the previous
November. By comparison,
completed foreclosures averaged
about 21,000 per month from
2000 to 2006 before the crisis.
Source: CoreLogic
STAT INSIGHT
33,000
