Ginnie Mae this week provided new details to the long-anticipated plan for increased issuer net worth and liquidity and a new performance scoring method for issuer activity – changes that could adversely affect small issuers and portfolio servicers. In remarks at the Mortgage Bankers Association’s annual convention in Las Vegas, Ginnie Mae President Ted Tozer said the changes are part of a larger effort to ensure the continuing flexibility and availability of the agency’s mortgage-backed securities program to as many entities as possible. New types of issuers and counterparties have entered the agency-backed MBS market in the wake of the financial crisis, which called for adjustments and tailored approaches to the evolving housing finance market, Tozer noted. Tozer said both policy changes and staff expertise will ensure the success of ...

With most “easy” refinance business long gone, some lenders have turned their attention to lower credit-quality borrowers. New research from Fair Isaac suggests that borrowers with the lowest credit scores are showing improved performance, helping to ease some concerns about lending to such borrowers. Ethan Dornhelm, principal scientist at Fair Isaac, said average FICO scores tend to decline during an economic downturn, as consumers have more difficulty meeting loan obligations ...

Thanks to a heavy supply of scratch-and-dent deals and a rebound in jumbo mortgage securitizations, new issuance in the non-agency MBS market jumped by 57.4 percent in the third quarter of 2014, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis and ranking. A total of $8.99 billion of non-agency MBS were issued during the third quarter, a major increase from the $5.71 billion issued in the previous three-month period. Year-to-date issuance was still off 27.3 percent from the first nine months of 2013, and it is doubtful that annual volume this year will top 2013’s total when the year is over. Issuance of prime non-agency MBS in the third quarter was...[Includes three data charts]

A federal judge in New York has cleared the way for investors to proceed with a $10 billion class-action suit against JPMorgan in relation to the 2007 sale of non-agency MBS. Judge Paul Oetken of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, however, limited the scope of the class-action suit to JPMorgan’s liability but did not certify as to damage. Explaining his decision to narrow the scope of the suit, Oetken said...

Some $3.05 billion in jumbo mortgage-backed securities were priced in the third quarter of 2014, nearly triple the volume seen in the previous quarter, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. Issuance through three quarters is still below the level of jumbo MBS activity in 2013 but industry analysts suggest that the jumbo MBS market looks strong heading into the fourth quarter and beyond. Credit Suisse was the top issuer of jumbo MBS ... [Includes one data chart]

A shift from refinances to purchase mortgages has helped push combined loan-to-value ratios on jumbo mortgage-backed securities to the highest levels since the financial crisis. The higher LTV ratios are prompting an increase in credit enhancement requirements. JPMorgan Chase this week issued a $355.64 million jumbo MBS with an average combined LTV ratio of 74.0 percent. And WinWater Home Mortgage is preparing a $276.91 million jumbo MBS with an average combined LTV ratio of ...

Only one nonbank claimed more than a 1.0 percent share of originations of non-agency jumbo mortgages in 2013, according to a new Inside Nonconforming Markets analysis of Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data. Quicken Loans, the 10th-ranked jumbo lender in 2013, accounted for 1.26 percent of jumbos originated during the year, even after growing its originations at more than double the industry average compared with 2012. Banks were the top nine jumbo lenders in 2013 ... [Includes one data chart]

A number of participants in the non-agency market are working to address the risks posed by second liens taken out by borrowers after the origination of the first mortgage. Some potential investors in non-agency mortgage-backed securities have balked at buying into new issuance due to concerns about borrower leverage and equity positions. “That’s a big problem for insurance companies and institutional investors, that debt can morph over time,” Fred Matera, a managing director at Redwood Trust ...

Issuers of non-agency mortgage-backed securities appear likely to continue working in the private 144A market as opposed to issuing deals in the public market, according to industry participants. Redwood Trust was issuing jumbo MBS in the public market, but it switched to the 144A market even before new requirements from the Securities and Exchange Commission made private issuance more attractive. Most other jumbo MBS issuers in recent years have also stuck with offering their deals in ...

Social Finance, a nonbank that has focused on refinancing student loans, launched a jumbo mortgage lending program this week. The lender is offering loans with downpayments as low as 10 percent and balances as high as $3.0 million with no requirement for private mortgage insurance. SoFi is offering 30-year fixed-rate mortgages and adjustable-rate mortgages, including a 5/5/20 ARM with a 10-year interest-only period. SoFi said it is looking to originate ... [Includes one brief]