Long Island-based lender barred from government mortgage program

Mortgage guarantor Ginnie Mae and the Federal Housing Administration have bumped a Long Island-based lender from a government-insured mortgage program that had allowed it to grant FHA-backed mortgages, while simultaneously denying the company the right to sell mortgage-backed securities. The lender, TopDot Mortgage, reportedly violated federal lending rules on numerous occasions, according to the Center for Public Interity, and had accrued a portfolio of $181.2 million in Ginnie Mae securities before the federal agency took action. Ginnie Mae had allowed TopDot to sell FHA loans in the secondary mortgage market, despite the fact that the lender has been the target of several lawsuits accusing it of misleading borrowers about the terms of its FHA loans. Additionally, TopDot’s FHA loan default rate was found to be more than double that of comparable lenders in the area, hitting about 14.3 percent in the last two years. “This lender demonstrated a pattern of utter disregard for how we do business,” David Stevens, FHA commissioner, said.