As a result of numerous inquiries, Ginnie Mae has provided additional clarity on the seasoning for VA refinances to help issuers comply with its 2018 guidance on pooling eligibility requirements. Under the Dodd-Frank reform act, to qualify for a Ginnie guarantee, a VA refi loan must have a recoupment period of 36 months and provide a net tangible benefit to the borrower. The seasoning requirement is aimed at curbing serial churning — the repeated refinancing of a loan to generate ...

China’s residential mortgage-backed securities industry, which is younger and smaller than the U.S. RMBS market, has grown rapidly over the last few years, according to a new report from Moody’s Investor Service. Spurred by a growing mortgage market, China securitized an estimated $87 billion of residential loans in 2018. Though modest compared to the U.S. annual production, it was a record year for China, having tripled from the previous year’s total issuance and even surpassing ...

Private mortgage insurers could have excess capital of nearly $2 billion by the end of 2019, analysts predict. A recent report from Keefe, Bruyette & Woods suggests the combination of private mortgage insurers’ high returns on equity and increasing use of reinsurance through insurance-linked note deals is creating the largesse. All of the nation’s six active MIs are publicly traded or are owned by a parent company that is. From 2016 through 2018, private MI’s insurance-in-force grew at ...

Industry stakeholders warned that doing away with key enforcement tools under the Fair Housing Act will make it harder to protect consumers from discriminatory housing policies and racial segregation.

Delinquencies on subprime auto ABS are rising, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. But S&P Global Ratings said the situation may not be as bad as the Fed suggests.

To minimize credit risk in FHA’s forward mortgage portfolio, lenders have been ordered to manually underwrite loan applicants with low credit scores and high debt-to-income ratios. [Includes one data chart.]

The new guidance applies to all FHA forward mortgages and HECMs…

Who knows more about GSE reform: the White House or Treasury? We get a sense the two parties don't see eye to eye on everything...