Bank of New York Mellon this month lost its designation as a Ginnie Mae document custodian but issuers have time to find a new one.

Some FHA lenders posted out-sized production gains in 4Q, including Equity Prime Mortgage, Freedom Mortgage and Mr. Cooper. (Includes data chart.)

Home Equity Conversion Mortgage endorsements dropped last year despite a strong fourth quarter. American Advisors Group retained its top position among HECM lenders. (Includes two data charts.)

The Federal Housing Finance Agency has proposed separate capital and liquidity requirements for servicing GSE loans and mortgages backing Ginnie securities. The new minimum liquidity requirements will affect only nonbanks and could benefit banks and private MIs.

Lakeview Loan Servicing capped a years-long ascent up the ranking of Ginnie Mae servicers thanks largely to bulk MSR purchases and acquisitions through co-issuance arrangements. (Includes four data charts.)

FHA has asked lenders and servicers to review existing guidance for originating and servicing forward loans and HECMs in presidentially declared major disaster areas.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law a bill prohibiting deceptive advertising and marketing of Home Equity Conversion Mortgage loans. The law takes effect March 5, 2020.

Notwithstanding improvement in the financial condition of the FHA Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund, HUD has no plans to cut mortgage insurance premiums or drop the FHA life-of-loan policy.

Delinquent loans accounted for 7.37% of FHA mortgages in Ginnie MBS at the end of September, up from 6.98% at midyear. The total delinquency rate for VA loans rose from 3.52% to 3.73% over that period. (Includes four data charts.)

HUD’s proposal to allow FHA to unwind its insurance policy to enforce underwriting guidelines is getting mixed reactions from industry stakeholders.