September 2, 2015
On September 14, 2015, a new FHA single-family home loan policy handbook takes effect. It’s known as HUD 4000.1 and has several updates, changes and revisions that will take effect on the 14th. There have been some frequently asked questions about some of the details found in the new handbook–the FHA and HUD have published some answers to those questions in anticipation of the launch date for the new rule book.
Here are some of those examples as printed on the FHA/HUD official site–one of the top questions? Whether referral fees will be permitted for the origination of FHA single family mortgage loans. The answer:
“The lender, or any of the lenders employees, must not pay or receive, or permit any other party involved in an FHA-insured mortgage transaction to pay or receive, any fee, kickback, compensation or thing of value to any person or entity in connection with an FHA-insured mortgage transaction, except for services actually performed and permitted by HUD. The lender must not pay a referral fee to any person or entity.”
“The lender is required to comply with all federal, state and local laws, rules, and requirements applicable to the mortgage transaction, including the requirements of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), including those related to the Real Estate Settlement Procedure Act (RESPA).”
Other of the most frequently asked questions include whether or not it’s possible to act as a participating FHA loan officer and as a real estate agent for a different company at the same time. According to the FHA/HUD, “The lender must require its employees to be its employees exclusively, unless the lender has determined that the employees other outside employment, including any self-employment, does not create a prohibited conflict of interest as described below”.
For example, “Employees are prohibited from having multiple roles in a single FHA-insured transaction. Employees are prohibited from having multiple sources of compensation, either directly or indirectly, from a single FHA-insured transaction”.
There are many more of these questions, and we’ll address some of the most commonly asked-about topics in the days leading up to the launch of HUD 4000.1.
Do you work in residential real estate? You should know about the free tool offered by FHA.com. It’s designed especially for real estate websites–a widget that displays FHA loan limits for the counties serviced by those websites.
It is easy to spend a few seconds customizing the state, counties, and widget size for the tool; you can copy the code and paste it into your website with ease. Get yours today: http://www.fha.com/fha_loan_limits_widget
Joe Wallace has been specializing in military and personal finance topics since 1995. His work has appeared on Air Force Television News, The Pentagon Channel, ABC and a variety of print and online publications. He is a 13-year Air Force veteran and a member of the Air Force Public Affairs Alumni Association. He was Managing editor for www.valoans.com for (8) years and is currently the Associate Editor for FHANewsblog.com.
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