WASHINGTON – February 12, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-TX), Chairman of the Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit, today questioned Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Julian Castro regarding the financial health of the Federal Housing Administration. Excerpts and full video below:
“Mr. Secretary, you have a book of business that you say is seriously delinquent at 7%. I understand that the percent of loans past due at FHA is actually 14%. And if the FHA is going to be the buffer for the marketplace, the countercyclical safety net. You have a 14% delinquency, a 7% serious delinquency, and you just lowered your premium by 40%. If that was any other financial institution in this country you would be under regulatory supervision. No one else gets to operate that way. As many of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle have said, if FHA is going to be that buffer, it has to be a strong financial institution. The independent review also said that you needed $85 billion dollars to survive another major housing downturn like the one we experienced in 2008 and you are nowhere near that,” Neugebauer said.
