Mortgage banker David Kittle, a candidate for Ginnie Mae president, has informed the White House and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson that he is no longer interested in the position, according to industry sources. Kittle, a founding partner and vice chairman of the Mortgage Collaborative, an industry vendor, could not be reached for comment. Kittle was first approached by the White House nine months ago about the job. A background check on the potential nominee was reportedly underway but he was never officially nominated. The industry veteran began his mortgage-banking career as a loan officer with American Fletcher Mortgage Co. He is a past chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association, completing his term in October 2009. A Republican, he also once served as president of the Kentucky Mortgage Bankers Association. Kittle’s withdrawal leaves the ...

Congress and the FHA should avoid undertaking policy changes that would further weaken the agency’s ability to cover insurance losses and potentially lead to another taxpayer bailout, according to a recent analysis by The Heritage Foundation. THF analyst John Ligon and Norbert Michel, a research fellow, said FHA policy reforms should ensure that the agency maintains a limited role in the housing finance system. FHA should make way for private capital to enter the market and serve the housing needs of American households, they added. FHA can accomplish such policy goals by lowering its loan limits and adequately pricing insurance for borrower risk, the analysts said. In addition, Congress should ensure that FHA borrowers are required to maintain mortgage insurance over the full life of the loan as required currently by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, said ...

Ginnie Mae called on issuers to ensure that the data they submit are accurate following the discovery of erroneous payment reports. The agency said it has noticed discrepancies in the reporting of the first payment date on loan modifications in violation of Ginnie guidelines. Specifically, the first payment date some issuers reported as part of the loan-delivery data did not match the date submitted for the same mortgage loan as part of issuers’ monthly report of pool and loan data. Ginnie blamed the errors either on loans set up incorrectly for servicing or faulty data issuers had reported to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Guidance issued by Ginnie on Nov. 14 reminded issuers to report the first scheduled payment date of the re-amortized loan when reporting the first payment date for modified mortgages through either the GinnieNET or the Reporting and Feedback System. The date ...

Industry fundamentals in the auto ABS sector are improving in the wake of the hurricanes, ac-cording to a report by a pair of analysts at Wells Fargo Securities.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been approved to once again participate in the low income housing tax credit program aimed at affordable rental housing, but their share will be limited as to not impede on the private market.

Walter Investment Management Corp.’s planned Chapter 11 reorganization is not likely to affect the credit ratings of MBS backed by loans serviced by its subsidiary Ditech Financial, according to an analysis by Fitch Ratings.

Consumer debt reached a new high at the end of the third quarter of 2017, surpassing levels seen in the run-up to the financial crisis and prompting concerns about the systemic risk to MBS and ABS investors posed by consumer leverage.

A newly released study by the Department of Veterans Affairs showed a 4.0 increase in the number of veterans who have used a VA mortgage in FY 2016 compared to the previous fiscal year. Also, a recent survey conducted by loanDepot found that 56 percent of veterans who participated did not take advantage of their VA loan benefits. Respondents included 400 targeted active servicemembers, veterans and surviving spouses. Conducted by the National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statics, the VA study focused on veterans who have used at least one of 22 benefits or services provided by the VA during fiscal years 2007 through 2016. The study found that loan guarantee was the third most used benefit by veterans behind health care and pensions. Of the 7.1 million vets who used at least one VA benefit, 2.6 million (36.6 percent) took advantage of the zero-downpayment, low-interest ...

More than three years after standards for qualified mortgages took effect, investors in the non-agency MBS market appear to be getting more comfortable with products that fall outside its bounda-ries. JPMorgan Chase is preparing to issue a large MBS backed by non-QMs that’s similar to deals from several nonbank issuers.

Ginnie Mae has been without a permanent president for roughly 10 months now, but so far inves-tors don’t seem to be balking at buying agency MBS. But that doesn’t mean the market – as well as stakeholders – aren’t getting nervous about the situation.