FHA OFFICALS SEEK TO BAN SELLER ASSISTED DOWN PAYMENTS

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Federal housing officials are trying again to ban seller-assisted down payments on federally insured mortgages, amid concerns about mounting losses tied to these loans.

The Federal Housing Administration has reopened a public-comment period on a proposed rule on such assistance, which the agency says leads to higher-than-normal foreclosure rates.

Under the seller-funding practice, a third party -- typically a charity -- provides the down payment for the buyer and is then reimbursed by the home seller, often a home builder. This can help home sellers close deals with buyers who can't come up with down payments on their own.

FHA Commissioner Brian Montgomery said Monday that the government-backed loans made to borrowers who receive down-payment assistance go into foreclosure at three times the rate of loans in which borrowers pay for their own down payment. Loans with seller-assisted down payments make up about 35% of the FHA's loan portfolio, up from only 5% in 2001.

After a recent evaluation, the FHA estimates it will incur an additional $4.6 billion in unanticipated long-term losses, primarily due to loans involving seller-funded down-payment gifts.

"We are concerned about this business, because the substantial losses affect FHA's bottom line and FHA's ability to serve American citizens who need access to prime-rate home loans," Mr. Montgomery said during a speech at the National Press Club.

FHA-insured mortgages, which require down payments, have become more popular amid the shrinking of the subprime-mortgage market.

Last year, a federal judge in the District of Columbia, issued a preliminary injunction against an earlier ban on seller-assisted down-payment gifts proposed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The judge ruled that HUD "failed to provide a rational basis in support" of the ban.

HUD spokesman Brian Sullivan said in an interview that the agency, "lost on a technicality. The court gave us a good road map for how to get it done."

Since the 1970s, HUD has permitted buyers to use gifts from family members, employers or charities for down payments.

"We have tried to work cooperatively with HUD to try and ensure that working families have access to homeownership through this model," says Scott Syphax, chief executive of Nehemiah Corp. of America, one of the nation's largest down-payment-gifting groups. "HUD has shut us down every step of the way."

For example, Mr. Syphax says HUD officials have refused to consider Nehemiah's suggestions that they scrutinize appraisals in an effort to prevent sellers from inflating home prices by including gift costs. Mr. Sullivan declined to comment on that criticism. "We are allowing the public-comment period as the appropriate forum for them to express any reservation they have about our rule," Mr. Sullivan says.

Mr. Syphax says his group would oppose the latest effort to ban the down-payment gifts. "We will use all legal means at our disposal in order to protect this portal to homeownership for the families who are underserved in an ever-worsening credit market." he says.

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