F.H.A. Faces $4.6 Billion in Losses

"Unexpected losses".......LOL!

"President Bush and leading Democrats in Congress are counting on the F.H.A., which is overseen by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, to help istressed borrowers refinance into stable, government-backed loans."

Got gold.....?

Yves from Naked Capitalsim has much more on this topic FHA Repudiates Housing Rescue Bill including this desperate comment to fend off the latest rescue packages from the FHA chief Brian Montgomery ( also hat tip to Housing Wire) .

Yves von Naked Capitalsim hat mehr deprimierende Details zu diesem verzweifelten Versuch der Politik das Unvermeindliche zu verhindern FHA Repudiates Housing Rescue Bill . Hier ein an Deutlichkeit nicht zu überbietender Hilfeschrei von FHA Boss Brian Montgomery ( Dank auch an Housing Wire) das die von der Politik geplanten Rettungsaktionen für den US Immobilienmarkt unweigerlich in ein Desaster führen werden ..... Unnötig zu erwähnen das letztendlich der Steuerzahler für diesen erneuten Irrsinn geradezustehen hat...... Unnötig ebenfalls zu betonen das sich die Politiker gerade in Wahlkampfzeiten am Ende sicher durchsetzen werden....

"Some of the proposed Congressional actions could actually weaken FHA and endanger the housing market by turning FHA into a less stable, less solvent, more bureaucratic entity.

There are some who want FHA to pick up all the potentially delinquent 2 million subprime loans.This is a worrisome idea.

FHA is designed to help stabilize the economy, operating within manageable, low-risk loans.It is not designed to become the federal lender of last resort, a mega-agency to subsidize bad loans."

He should have been so vocal a litlle bit earlier ( enjoy the rant from Mish )

Hier noch ein netter Rumumschlag von Mish

F.H.A. Faces $4.6 Billion in Losses NYT
WASHINGTON — The Federal Housing Administration expects to lose $4.6 billion because of unexpectedly high default rates on home loans, officials said Monday.

Brian D. Montgomery, the F.H.A. commissioner, attributed the unanticipated losses primarily to the agency’s seller-financed down payment mortgage program, which has suffered from high delinquency and foreclosure rates in recent years.

Housing officials said the agency was also hurt by poor performance in its traditional mortgage portfolio. Deteriorating economic conditions led some of its core clients — first-time buyers, minorities and lower-income owners — to default, they said.

The projected loss is the highest in the home loan program since 2004, and officials said the F.H.A. had to withdraw $4.6 billion from its $21 billion capital reserve fund in May to cover the costs. They said the agency, which is self-sustaining, would not need appropriations from Congress to remain solvent.

But Mr. Montgomery warned that the F.H.A. would have to renew its efforts to end the seller-financed down payment program, which accounted for 35 percent of its loans in 2007.

He said the mortgages had foreclosure rates three times those of traditional loans and would push the F.H.A. to the brink of insolvency.

“Let me repeat: F.H.A. is solvent,” Mr. Montgomery said on Monday in a speech at the National Press Club. “However, no insurance company can sustain that amount of additional costs year after year and still survive. Unless we take action to mitigate these losses, F.H.A. will soon either have to shut down or rely on appropriations to operate.”

F.H.A.’s projected loss, more than four times the shortfall attributed to the home program last year, raised concerns about the agency’s ability to lead the national effort to rescue homeowners facing foreclosure.

President Bush and leading Democrats in Congress are counting on the F.H.A., which is overseen by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, to help distressed borrowers refinance into stable, government-backed loans.

Officials say the agency will help 500,000 people refinance by the end of the year, but a vast majority of those have made their payments on time.

Howard Glaser, a mortgage industry consultant who served as HUD general counsel in the Clinton administration, sees the anticipated loss as a concern. “Congress is relying on F.H.A. to help stabilize the mortgage market, but it’s not clear that F.H.A. is as strong as it could be,” he said.

Mr. Montgomery said the agency planned to reopen the comment period on a proposed rule to the Federal Register that would ban the program. But the F.H.A. has tried to eliminate seller-financed down payment loans for years, and it remains unclear whether it will be successful now.

Under the program, a home seller arranges to cover the buyer’s down payment, using financial help from a nonprofit company, but typically adds that sum or more to the price of the house. The deal has been particularly attractive to financially struggling buyers and to owners in depressed markets, according to Congressional officials.

Critics say the practice puts overpriced houses in the hands of poor and minority homeowners who ultimately cannot cover the mortgage. In recent years, the Government Accountability Office and the Internal Revenue Service have both raised concerns about the program.

But with the subprime market collapsed and mortgage companies tightening lending criteria, seller down payment loans have become increasingly appealing both to sellers in slumping housing markets and to lower-income homebuyers unable to get conventional mortgages.

The program, which accounted for less than 2 percent of F.H.A.-insured loans in 2000, now accounts for more than a third of the agency’s portfolio. Housing officials said that 60 percent of F.H.A.’s anticipated loss was directly attributable to the seller-financed down payment program.

Supporters of the loans, who include some powerful members of Congress, counter that the program provides much-needed assistance to low-income and minority families who would otherwise be unable to buy homes.

Representative Barney Frank, the Massachusetts Democrat who is chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, remains opposed to any F.H.A. rule that would eliminate the program, a spokesman said on Monday. Mr. Frank has said he would like to reform the program without killing it.