A Ginnie Mae crackdown on abusive VA refinancing could be positive for housing finance reform, according to a Washington research organization. In a recent analysis, the Cowen Washington Research Group said Ginnie’s effort to rein in lenders that are engaging in churning might benefit those who are trying to revamp Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. “We expect Ginnie Mae will succeed in curbing prepayment speed on VA mortgages,” wrote Jaret Seiberg, a financial services and housing policy analyst with the Cowen Group. “The crackdown is positive for government-sponsored enterprise reform as it should restore the spread between Ginnie and Fannie/Freddie MBS.” According to Seiberg, GSE reform advocates could potentially use the spread to pay for a housing finance bill that includes a government guarantee on the resulting MBS. Acting Ginnie Mae President Michael Bright has pledged to ...

Industry Trade Groups Call for Compton Vote. A coalition of 28 trade groups representing the mortgage and real-estate industries has urged the Senate leadership to bring Paul Compton’s nomination as general counsel of the Department of Housing and Urban Development to the floor for a vote. The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs approved Compton’s nomination in July but no further action has been taken since. In a joint letter, the coalition underscored the importance of the role of HUD general counsel in the aftermath of hurricanes Harvey and Irma. The groups urged Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, to provide all the necessary resources to help in the disaster recovery and to put the HUD general counsel in place, which is critical to the recovery efforts. On Sept. 14, the Senate confirmed ...

Drawing to a close, the third quarter of 2017 is turning out to be modestly better than some lenders expected with both profits and production volumes getting a second wind recently thanks to falling interest rates. “We’re having a great quarter,” said Mat Ishbia, president and CEO of United Wholesale Mortgage, Troy, MI. According to Ishbia, not only will UWM post record originations of $8.6 billion in the third quarter, but volume at the privately held nonbank will be about 20.0 percent higher than ever before. According to figures compiled by Inside Mortgage Finance, UWM is...

The wholesale-broker channel accounts for a relatively small amount of new business in the jumbo mortgage market, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of lender surveys. Brokers accounted for just 4.6 percent of jumbo originations during the second quarter of 2017, although volume was up 13.7 percent from the first three months. The problem is that jumbo lending by a diverse sample of mortgage lenders was up 19.9 percent overall, meaning ... [Includes three data charts]

CMG Mortgage, San Ramon, CA, has launched a new service called HomeFundMe that is geared toward helping loan applicants gather up enough money for a downpayment – using the Internet, of course. There’s a catch though: applicants who use the “crowd funding” platform have to take out a mortgage with CMG, which bears the name of its founder and CEO Chris George. In a recent interview with Inside Mortgage Trends, George was reluctant to estimate how much money ...

Commercial banks and thrifts reported a solid increase in retail mortgage originations during the second quarter of 2017, but loan sales were down from the previous period. Banks originated $83.98 billion of single-family mortgages through their retail mortgage-banking platforms during the second quarter, a 16.7 percent increase from the first three months of the year, according to an Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of call report data. The total fell well short of ... [Includes one data chart]

Depository institutions have been quietly regaining some market share from nonbanks over the past year, even though some of the largest banks continue to pull back, according to a new analysis and ranking by Inside Mortgage Finance. Banks, savings institutions and credit unions accounted for 51.3 percent of the $356.85 billion of first-lien mortgage originations by the top 100 lenders during the second quarter. The group boosted its production volume by 19.2 percent from the first three months of the year, while the top 100 overall posted a 17.3 percent gain in volume. It marked...[Includes two data tables]

Bank and thrift holdings of first-lien mortgages continued to increase in the second quarter, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. Banks and thrifts held $1.97 trillion of first-lien mortgages at the end of June. The holdings were up by 1.9 percent from March and up 3.8 percent from a year ago. Trends in portfolio management were somewhat mixed among the top 10 holders of first-lien mortgages. Top-ranked Wells Fargo had ... [Includes one data chart]

Rapid, aggressive refinancing of VA loans has made a comeback with some issuers using strategies to mask the practice and avoid possible penalties, including expulsion from the Ginnie Mae program, according to a top agency official. Responding to concerns raised by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-MA, Michael Bright, acting Ginnie Mae president and chief operations officer, said a joint Ginnie Mae/VA lender-abuse task force is analyzing monthly data and developing additional policy measures to deal with the problem. Bright confirmed the resurgence of inappropriate streamline refinancing in Ginnie securitization pools in recent weeks and has promised to crack down on the questionable practice. The problem surfaced last year when Ginnie Mae noticed unusually fast prepayment speeds in its mortgage-backed securities, particularly MBS backed by VA loans. Ginnie found that certain lenders and ...

The Mortgage Bankers Association has recommended steps to address the VA appraiser shortage and increased appraisal turn times. The industry group made its recommendations in a recent letter to Jeffrey London, executive director of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Loan Guaranty Service, based on a roundtable discussion between MBA and other industry stakeholders in March. Stakeholders expressed their concern for the lack of VA appraisers and longer waiting periods for appraisal reports. Appraiser shortage is an ongoing problem for the VA, and has resulted in delayed loan closings, particularly in highly rural areas. Some states, like Oregon, have very few appraisers, the MBA pointed out.“This delay may force veterans to choose other loan programs to meet certain deadlines or face other adverse outcomes,” the MBA letter warned. On the other hand, the ...