An outline for housing finance reform released late this week by Senate Banking Committee Chair Mike Crapo, R-ID, looks a lot like the last gasp reform proposal released in 2018 by Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-TX, the now retired chair of the House Financial Services Committee. Among other things, the proposal puts Ginnie Mae firmly in control of the government guarantee business.

The FHA/VA market continued to lean more heavily on third-party loan producers in 2018, according to a new Inside FHA/VA Lending analysis of Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities data. [Includes four data charts.]

DOJ, HECM servicer agrees to False Claims Act settlement; Essent announces launch of EssentEDGE; Radian introduces new MI pricing option; TMS becomes approved Ginnie Mae PIIT buyer.

Congress reportedly plans to reintroduce legislation that would restore Ginnie Mae eligibility for $100 million dollars’ worth of so-called orphan VA streamline refinance loans.

Ginnie Mae has reached the halfway mark of President Trump’s first term without a permanent leader and appears likely to remain so until after the 2020 presidential election.

More clarity is needed with regards to the Department of Veterans Affairs’ proposed changes to its rules on cash-out refinances, VA lenders said.

FHA and VA are calling on servicers to provide special relief to furloughed federal workers and contractors as the partial government shutdown neared a full month with no end in sight.

Delinquency rates for FHA and VA loans in Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities rose in the fourth quarter of 2018, but loan performance was generally stronger, according to a new Inside FHA/VA Lending analysis. [Includes four data charts.]

Scheduled speakers included Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, Kasper and Edward DeMarco, former acting Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Wholesale-broker activity saw roughly the same rate of decline as the retail channel did...