Updated: Lender May Still be FHA Approved--HOPE for Homeowners: Lender Thrown Out of Program with 47% of Loans Agrees to Pay Civil Money Penalty of $150,000.

Update: 
I did some additional checking and HUD HERE continues to show 1st Alliance LLC of Houston as an approved FHA lender. This MAY mean that the civil penalty referenced below was in lieu of throwing them out of FHA lending program, but I did not change text below). 
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In my prior post HERE I reported that one FHA lender, 1st Alliance Lending LLC of Houston, had accounted for 47% of the endorsed HOPE for Homeowner loans in the public database of loans endorsed from April-November of 2010. 

In the Dec 27 Federal Register HERE HUD has published a list of recent actions taken by the Mortgagee Review Board and it turns out (pg 2) that this lender in April agreed to make a civil money penalty payment of $150,000; this is apparently in addition to being thrown out of the FHA lending program. 

To date none of the HUD published sanctions data for 1st Alliance indicates that any of the HUD actions were based on HOPE for Homeowner loans.  

Irregardless (and unless HUD has obtained indemnifications) HUD is on the hook for 71 H4H loans from this lender, with a combined insured value of $14.6 million, ALL at a high 7.25% interest rate. IF the $150,000 civil money penalty relates to these loans it seems pitifully low compared to the potential cost to the insurance fund.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.