If the merger of Rocket Mortgage and Mr. Cooper had been completed in time to include third-quarter numbers, the resulting company would have had a GSE servicing portfolio approaching $1.0 trillion.

Stanley Middleman, founder and CEO of Freedom Mortgage, said the next administration’s approach for FHA and VA should be “if it’s not broken, why fix it?”

Issuance of Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities with refinance loans increased sharply for the third straight month in October. However, the refi business appears poised to slow as interest rates on mortgages increased through October. (Includes two data tables.)

John Bell, executive director of the VA Loan Guaranty Service, spends much of his time now monitoring the impact on VA borrowers from the National Association of Realtors’ landmark antitrust settlement.

Mortgage servicers and agency officials speaking at the Mortgage Bankers Association’s recent annual convention shared their experiences implementing the new VASP loss-mitigation program.

Delinquency rates for FHA and VA mortgages pooled in Ginnie Mae MBS increased across the board in the third quarter, with the total delinquency rate on FHA loans topping 10%.

A rise in VA and FHA refinance business helped to increase Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed security issuance in the third quarter. The increase in purchase-mortgage volume was more modest. (Includes four data tables.)

Initial estimates on Hurricane Helene’s impact; Ginnie to host summit with a focus on nonbanks; MSR financing securitization from Freedom; T-Mobile moves forward with cell phone financing ABS.

The correspondent channel’s share of government-insured lending increased in the second quarter, but it was still down on a year-to-date basis from the first half of 2023. (Includes data table.)

Refinance activity drove much of the increase in Ginnie MBS issuance between July and August. Freedom Mortgage remained the top Ginnie issuer, but its production was down 1.9% from July. (Includes two data tables.)