Lenders Lose FHA Lending Authority

The Federal Register listed the four suspended lenders as Fidelity Mortgage & Funding Co., of Memphis; Allied Financial Services, Inc., of Birmingham; Southern Mortgage Investment Corporation, of Winter Park, Fla.; and Jack Johnson & Associates, operating under the name Home Equity Mortgage, of Riverside, Calif.

The violations of these companies range from using false documentation to process loans, allowing others besides FHA employees to process loans, and not filing or keeping complete origination reports.

The HUD Mortgagee Review Board gave Fidelity and Home Equity each a five-year suspension, and Allied and Southern received three years each.

Phone numbers obtained from directory assistance for Allied and Home Equity were not in service. Messages left at Fidelity and Southern for comment, as well as messages left with the secretary of the Mortgagee Review Board, were not readily returned.

The other seven companies to receive fines from HUD for violations were Custom Mortgage Corporation, of San Antonio, Texas; First Mortgage of Indiana, Inc., of Indianapolis; Golden Empire Mortgage, Inc., of Bakersfield, Calif.; Pac West Financial Corporation, of Ontario, Canada; Ron Simpson & Associates, operating under the name Rockwell Mortgage Company, of Farmington Hills, Mich.; Underline Inc., operating under the name Advantage Mortgage Services, of Santa Ana, Calif.; and Utah Mortgage Loan Corporation, of Midvale, Utah.

These companies’ violations ranged from allowing non-company employees to originate FHA loans, charging borrowers fees that are not allowed by HUD, and failing to make sure that gift letters meet HUD requirements. Many of the companies also failed to develop, maintain, and implement a quality control plan that was up to HUD standards, the Federal Register said.