Ginnie Mae will not have an annual summit this year but has rescheduled it for January 2018, according to Ginnie Mae’s new spokesperson. Michael Huff, senior advisor, congressional and stakeholder relations, said a new administration and staff departures have caused organizers to reconsider having the annual Ginnie Mae Summit this year, usually held in October. The Trump administration has yet to announce a nominee for the top job at Ginnie Mae since former president Ted Tozer left in January. David Kittle is reportedly a leading contender, but there has been no official announcement or confirmation. So far, Kittle has declined to comment. Kittle is a mortgage industry veteran who began as a loan officer and now heads his own company. He also was a top executive with the Mortgage Bankers Association and managed, among other things, the group’s political action committee. In addition, Kittle co-founded the ...

Roughly 71.0 percent of second-quarter primary-market originations of first-lien mortgages were purchase loans, the highest reading in years…

The FHFA estimates that roughly 143,000 GSE borrowers are still eligible to use the HARP program.

The issue of whether the Federal Housing Finance Agency will alter the dividend payments Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pay the Treasury Department became a bit more complicated this month when agency Director Mel Watt hinted in correspondence he’s unlikely to make a change. But despite such a sentiment being expressed in a letter to the National Association of Realtors, there continues to be a school of thought among certain lobbyists and trade group officials that a change is coming. “I still think...

Members of Congress have left Washington, DC, for their summer recess, and mortgage industry representatives are using the time to plan strategy and educate lawmakers on key issues to help propel a number of measures across the finish line before the year ends. The most time-sensitive issues are reauthorizing the national flood insurance program and setting budgets for FHA and Ginnie Mae activity in fiscal 2018, which begins Oct. 1, 2017. Lawmakers will be looking to deal with these in September. Authority for the National Flood Insurance Program expires...

Mortgage industry groups cannot seem to agree on whether there should be more than two guarantors of conventional mortgage-backed securities once Congress and the White House figure out what to do with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The Mortgage Bankers Association firmly supports multiple guarantors, arguing that more competition is better. But groups representing smaller lenders worry about the burden of maintaining relationships with many secondary-market outlets and the potential for an uneven playing field. David Stevens, president and CEO of the MBA, said...

If the $10.4 billion figure proves accurate it will result in another hefty dividend payment by Fannie and Freddie to the holder of its senior preferred stock: the U.S. Treasury.

Mel Watt called the credit score explorations one of the “most difficult” evaluations he’s taken on as FHFA director.

Mortgage software provider Ellie Mae said in a recent SEC filing that “part” of its business strategy is to target larger mortgage lenders...

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are well aware of the issue and have leeway to replace LIBOR with another benchmark when the time comes, industry officials said.