Interest rates on mortgages increased by about 90 basis points during the third quarter, including a spike in September. That made it difficult to originate mortgages. (Includes two data tables.)

Major credit reporting bureaus insist that the tri-merge scoring process is better than a bi-merge. They said the impact on revenues from moving away from the tri-merge for GSE mortgages would be limited.

The executive order is limited in scope compared with the large list of requests from industry participants.

Net revenues increased at both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac even as high interest rates continue to depress new loan acquisitions.

There’s the LLPA reduction for VS4, lower prices compared with FICO and a more expansive population of scored consumers.

The president is getting more assertive in using the GSEs to achieve political and policy objectives, according to Jaret Seiberg, an analyst at TD Cowen Washington Research Group.

Freddie Mac’s Sonu Mittal and Fannie Mae’s Jake Williamson detailed the GSEs’ challenges and successes in a deeply troubled mortgage market.

Growth in servicing with Ginnie Mae continues to outpace Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Most of the top-10 agency servicers increased their portfolios during the third quarter, though not Rocket Mortgage. (Includes two data tables.)

By loan count, the MBA forecasts that total mortgage originations will decline by 5.6% from 2026 to 2027.

Residential mortgage originations declined in the third quarter at Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo. Even with high interest rates, servicing portfolios appear to be performing well.