FHA Emporium News Pick-ups: FHA is back "in the black" -- but not out of the woods (AH, QUAINT GUB'MINT ACCOUNTING!)

By law, the FHA must maintain a cash cushion that equals 2 percent of all the loans backed by the agency. The $4.8 billion cushion announced Monday equals just 0.41 percent, the agency said in its report to Congress, citing figures from its most recent audit.
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One of the key reasons its reserves remain so low is because the agency is losing money on its reverse-mortgage program, which allows seniors to withdraw equity from their homes. Another reason is that the FHA is not generating as much business as the auditors expected last time they examined the agency's books. It backed $134 billion worth of new loans in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, instead of the projected $191 billion.

We are amused that the defaults from FHA's shoddy underwriting in the mid-1990s through 2008 "free-for-all" era do not figure in the above blame accounting (this would include laundering-based, no-money-down "charitable downpayment assistance" loans, or SFDPAs).

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FHA is back "in the black" -- but not out of the woods (AH, QUAINT GUB'MINT ACCOUNTING!)

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