Earlier in his career, Jones was a staffer in the Senate and he was an associate vice president of government housing finance at the Mortgage Bankers Association from early 2023 through early 2025.

Ginnie guaranteed $49.44 billion of MBS in August, a 3.0% decline from July. Refinance volume declined 13.6% during the period, while purchase-mortgage volume held steady at 0.2%.

FHA plans to begin accepting VantageScore 4.0 and FICO 10T credit scoring models on Jan. 1.

The effort aims to “address crucial workplace and mission needs by eliminating redundancies, streamlining and increasing flexibility in work processes and consolidating administrative functions.”

Purchase-mortgage business is running ahead of the levels seen in the first half of 2025.

Applications were essentially unchanged on a weekly basis last week even as interest rates ticked up.

Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to end support for special purpose credit programs earlier this year. But now other agencies are also ending authorization for the programs.

Among the milestones that the effort is on track to meet: development of technology systems to accommodate the transition.

A rise in purchase-mortgage volume wasn't enough to offset declining refi activity.

FHA mortgages continued to show the worst performance.