Mortgage insurance risk advice offered by Canadian watchdog

Mortgage Insurance News

The financial regulator in Canada has come up with a guideline draft for mitigating insurers risks. Canada’s financial regulator has now come up with a draft for certain mortgage insurance company guidelines that could help to decrease the risk that is currently present within the housing market. Analysts have cautioned that it could make it slightly harder for borrowers to obtain a home loan. The guidelines were created by the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI), and they would apply to that country’s three major mortgage insurance companies:…

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Home refinancing to see lower mortgage insurance premiums from the Federal Housing Administration

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) has announced that it will be lowering the premiums for mortgage insurance for individuals who are refinancing their loans due to the housing market improvement strategy by President Barack Obama. The FHA has stated that it will be reducing the up-front premiums to bring them down from their former position at 1 percent, to 0.01 percent. This was indicated in a fact sheet that the Obama Administration began distributing on Tuesday. According to that same fact sheet, there will also be a reduction in the…

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Regulators seize control of Arizona’s PMI mortgage insurance branch

Arizona insurance regulators have seized control of a subsidiary of PMI Group, an international private mortgage insurance company. The seizure comes as the latest development in the ongoing struggle between regulatory authorities and the insurers involved in the 2008 mortgage crisis, which was a major factor in the recent economic recession. According to the Arizona Superior Court, regulators have full control of the company and will begin refunding 50% of claims beginning this week. PMI is the second mortgage insurer to be subject to such action in the U.S. When…

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U.S. mortgage insurance on the brink of collapse, changes for the housing market loom

The U.S. mortgage insurance market is on the cusp of a major revolution, but not for the better. The problems stem from the 2008 worldwide economic recession. The recession took a massive toll on the U.S. housing market, resulting in a crisis that persists to this day. Several insurance companies that specialized in mortgages floundered in the wake of the recession and those that survived now hold too much risk to continue writing policies. Insurers lost billions as a result of the housing crisis, losing much of the surplus capital…

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