Ginnie Mae will soon introduce the third prong of a strategy to improve its oversight of participants in its mortgage-backed securities program – a performance scorecard for issuers – and monitoring of its risk. Essentially a “scorecard,” the Issuer Operational Performance Profile (IOPP) will enable issuers to better understand and comply with Ginnie Mae’s expectations. It also provides a way for issuers to measure and improve their performance and compare it to the performance of their peers. Final testing and training for IOPP began this winter, with deployment expected “in early 2015,” the agency said. Issuers will be scored monthly based on a series of metrics. Each issuer will be rated against its peers by applying a weighting algorithm and, in some cases, adjusting for certain control factors. Each issuer will receive two scores: one for operational management and ...

Ginnie Mae Allows Rate-Change Dates in HMBS Annual ARM Pools. Ginnie Mae has decided to permit annual adjustable-rate Home Equity Conversion Mortgage pools to contain participations with different interest-rate adjustment dates. The participations in a pool must have the same adjustment date as the individual HECM loans to which they are related and an interest rate that adjusts on annual basis. In addition, participations must have a rate adjustment that will take place within 12 months following the month of pool issuance. This policy change is effective with Jan. 1, 2015, issuances and, thereafter, for both Constant Maturity Treasury and LIBOR index-based loan pools. Rescission Dates for Electronic Signatures/VA Guaranteed Home Loans, SCRA Requirements Extended. The Department of Veterans Affairs has extended the rescission date for ...

Just over $224 billion of mortgages to first-time homebuyers were included in agency MBS issued in 2014, according to figures compiled by IMF.

First Republic Bank is the top contributor to Redwood's new jumbo deal with a 31.7 percent market share.

Other investment bankers who work the MSR market said declining interest rates and the “Ocwen” effect are hurting values.

Investment banking firms that arrange subordinated debt offerings for mortgage originators are expecting a strong year in 2015, thanks in part to the dismal outlook for initial public offerings. “Sub debt is a good way to grow your business without it being dilutive to your company,” said Bill Dallas, CEO and founder of Skyline Lending, a lender that recently completed a $20 million deal with Ellington Financial, a publicly traded mortgage real estate investment trust. “It allows...

Thomas Gamache, national director of retail sales for Guaranteed Rate, has left the company and accepted a position with Citizens Financial Group...

In settling, S&P did not admit or deny any of the allegations levied against the firm.

Still, the four super-sized U.S. banks – those with more than $1 trillion in assets – continue to rank in the top five GSE sellers.

Regarding Altisource, the phrase “catch a falling knife” comes to mind. Cooperman is the Chairman and CEO of Omega Advisors…