Government

EverBank came to an agreement with federal regulators to provide $37 million in relief payments to certain borrowers, leading to an end to the Independent Foreclosure Review process for the bank, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) said Friday. The payment should cover 32,000 eligible mortgage customers whose homes were in any stage of foreclosure in 2009 and 2010, and checks should range from $1,050 to $125,000.

Despite improving builder confidence, sales of new single-family homes dropped to their lowest level since last October, the Census Bureau and HUD reported Friday. The seasonally adjusted annual rate of sales dropped a stunning 13.4 percent to 394,000 in July. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected June sales to drop to 487,000 from June's originally reported 497,000. June sales were revised to 455,000.

A new Illinois law will protect renters from getting forced out of a foreclosed property with short notice. Governor Pat Quinn signed a bill Wednesday that requires buyers of foreclosed residences to honor existing leases or give tenants at least 90 days to find new housing.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency Office of Inspector General (FHFA OIG) overall approves of Fannie Mae's $11.6 billion settlement earlier this year, though it does raise some questions regarding FHFA's treatment of compensatory fees and servicing transfers. FHFA OIG believes FHFA needs to establish set guidance for compensatory fees. Another concern the OIG labeled in a report is the transfer of servicing rights to specialty servicers.

According to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.58 percent (0.8 point) for the week ending August 22, up from last week's 4.40 percent. The 15-year FRM averaged 3.60 percent (0.7 point), up from 3.44 percent previously. Meanwhile, Bankrate.com reported a two-year high for the 30-year fixed average in its own weekly survey. The 30-year fixed reached 4.74 percent, Bankrate observed, while the 15-year fixed jumped to 3.75 percent.

First-time claims for unemployment insurance for the week ending August 17 rose 13,000 to 336,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Economists expected the number of claims to rise to 330,000 from the 320,000 originally reported for the week ending August 10. The number of filings for that week was bumped up to 323,000.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have both updated their seller guides to incorporate the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Ability to Repay rule under the Truth in Lending Act. The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) worked with the GSEs to update their respective seller guides in alignment with one another. The basic goal of the ""Ability to Repay"" rule is to ensure lenders act in good faith that a borrower can repay his or her loan before offering the loan.

After examining practices from mortgage servicers, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) found servicing problems such as disorganized account transfers and loss mitigation mistakes, according to a report. The CFPB's report was based on the examination of bank and non-bank servicers from November 2012 and June 2013. When pinpointing problems with mortgage servicing transfers, the CFPB identified risks that could lead to missed payments from consumers.

Fannie Mae's Economic & Strategic Research group expects economic growth to gain momentum in the later half of the year following a slow start. Looking ahead, the group expects GDP growth will average 2.0 percent for the year, accelerating to 2.6 percent in 2014 as fiscal drags peel away and the housing recovery continues. According to Fannie Mae chief economist Doug Duncan, ""[t]he biggest risk to this forecast is the expected reduction in the Federal Reserve's asset purchases.""

The number of filings related to suspicious activity for mortgage loan fraud fell year-over-year, while mortgage fraud related to foreclosure rescue scams spiked, according to a recent report from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). Last year, mortgage loan fraud (MLF) suspicious activity report (SAR) filings decreased to 69,277, down 25 percent from 92,561. However, the number of MLF SARs related to foreclosure rescue scams increased to 4,427, up 58 percent from 2,799 in 2011.