A psychotherapist returned from a
conference at Vail in the Rocky Mountains, where the delegates spent more time
on the steep and very icy ski slopes than attending lectures and seminars.
When she got back, her husband asked her,
"So, how did it go?"
"Great," she replied, "but
I've never seen so many Freudians slip."
How many people find fault seemingly every day with the
FHA, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac programs or structure? Plenty - see below -
they can't seem to catch a break. What I really meant to ask is how many
people live in the United States of America? The Census Bureau projected
that the U.S. population was 324,310,011 as of January 1st. This is
an increase of 2,245,347 (0.7%) since New Year's Day 2016. Overall, the U.S.
population is expected to increase by 1 person every 16 seconds. (It's a
global phenomenon. Throughout the world, the population increased by 77,849,375
from 2016 New Year's Day to 2017 New Year's Day. During January 2017, 4.3
births and 1.8 deaths are expected worldwide every second.)
Alight, Inc., a leading provider of
cloud-based applications for real-time, dynamic scenario comparison and
analysis, announced that GEM Mortgage, a division of Golden Empire Mortgage
Corporation Inc., has selected Alight Mortgage Lending for continuous
reforecasting. "Built by mortgage professionals, Alight Mortgage
Lending is the industry's only application for
real-time multiple scenario and what-if analysis." David
Chesney, EVP and CFO at GEM, noted, "We need to be nimble, and Alight's
ability to forecast various economic scenarios will enable us to move quickly
in response to changing economic conditions."
Movement Mortgage reported launching "Movement
Mortgage Marketing," or M3, a new proprietary marketing, sales and
customer engagement platform powered by technology from Total Expert Inc. "This is a
difference-maker for our organization and our vision to be a movement of change
in the mortgage industry," said Movement Mortgage Chief Brand Officer
David King in a press release. Movement reported that the platform will help
2,000 sales professionals to better "manage their contact databases,
connect with clients and prospects and spread their message through multiple
media channels, including video, social media, email and print." Joe Welu,
CEO of Total Expert stated, "Movement Mortgage is deeply passionate about
innovation and building a company designed for the future of mortgage lending
which makes them an ideal partner for Total Expert." To learn more about
Total Expert, visit totalexpertinc.com.
Freedom Mortgage has begun using the Simplifile
Collaboration service in its wholesale division to quickly and easily exchange
data with its settlement partners. Simplifile Collaboration enables lenders to
share, receive, and validate documents and data with their settlement partners
via a secure platform and provides visibility into settlement partner
processes, resulting in faster, transparent, and more compliant mortgage
closings. The system also automatically notes file changes, updates,
deficiencies, and statuses to craft an audit-ready compliance trail.
Credit Plus announced the availability of its Lost
Sales Analysis by Equifax*, a new product that helps lenders gain a better
understanding of the applicants they've lost, who they lost them to, and why.
It provides loan-level competitive intelligence that can help them maximize
their marketing ROI while improving closing rates and customer retention. With
the detailed data contained in the Lost Sales Analysis, lenders can determine if their
applicants closed their loans with a competitor, monitor portfolio run-off
trends, and assess pipeline fallout. The specific output contained in the Lost
Sales Analysis includes: Name of the lender associated with the lost sale,
purchase/refinance flags and Characteristics associated with the consumer's new
loan, such as the origination date and amount, loan type, estimated balance,
purchase price, sale amount, and more.
Credit Plus' newest installment of America's
Mortgage News is now available and reviews some of the things Credit Plus
anticipates will impact our industry this year. There are some educated guesses
based on the data that's out there and what mortgage experts are saying about
the months to come. Certainly, as with any other year, events may happen that
none of us could possibly predict. In this episode, Credit Plus does its best to shine some light
on a few things that are likely to occur in 2017 and the mortgage industry's
expected response to them.
Do you know what Day 1 Certainty can do for you and your
borrowers? CoAmp provided links to Fannie Mae Day 1 Certainty overview, an audio collateral underwriting webinar and
In Agency & government program lending news, the
news is coming fast and furious.
Yesterday's questioning of Secretary of
Treasury Steven Mnuchin resulted in some news. For example, he said that
although he favored the Volcker rule for FDIC-insured banks, it was overly
complex and needed modification. Mnuchin also suggested that a "21st
century Glass-Steagall" act might be worth considering.
His testimony
didn't do the Agencies' stock price any favors. Fannie Mae turned negative,
dropping as much as 11%, with Freddie Mac down as much as 11%, after Trump's
Mnuchin said at the Senate hearing that he never endorsed the idea of
"recap and release." He said that Fannie & Freddie are very
important entities, that we need housing reform, and that we shouldn't leave
Fannie, Freddie without a fix.
In other stock-related
agency news, Freddie Mac (OTCQB: FMCC) announced that its request to delistits debt and mortgage securities from the
Luxembourg Stock Exchange was granted on Jan. 17, 2017. The securities, as
detailed in ANNEX A, will be withdrawn from trading effective Feb. 15, 2017.
Turning to FHA news, for quite some time everyone in the
biz has been talking about the increased market share that non-depository banks
compared to "regular" banks. And this is especially evident to the
FHA program which has been a lightning rod for HUD and DOJ lawsuits against
lenders. These penalties and the process of fighting them have caused some like
Chase to scale back their desire to even originate these loans.
Residential lending veterans weren't surprised at the Wall Street Journal article yesterday pointing out how
FHA-backed loan balances have topped $1 trillion for the first time in November
and the rise of non-bank lenders in this corner of the market. It is creating concerns - again no surprise that those in the
industry were already aware of. But yes, the nonbank share of FHA lending is
worrying some in Washington. As banks have retreated from FHA lending, nonbank
lenders like Quicken and Freedom have taken up the slack. GNMA is conducting a
push to lure banks back into the business. But if GNMA offers preferential
pricing to some, isn't that a form of discrimination?
The boss of Freddie and Fannie (the FHFA) requested input on the Duty to Serve Program. The
statute requires the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to serve three specified
underserved markets manufactured housing, affordable housing preservation and
rural housing by improving distribution and availability of mortgage financing
in a safe and sound manner for residential properties that serve very low-,
low- and moderate-income families in these markets.
Fannie Mae's DU
Validation Service Verification Report Vendors list showing vendors that
can provide eligible verification reports to lenders has been updated and
expanded.
The Fannie Mae Servicing Guide has been updated to
include changes related to Investor Reporting Requirements, Retirement of
Non-Eligible List and Miscellaneous Revision. Policy changes not applicable to
Reverse Mortgage Loans. The full release is available for viewing. Or, if you
prefer, view the video presented by Bill Cleary, Vice President of
Single-Family Servicing Policy & Solutions.
The question was posed, "Does Freddie Mac require
employees of each approved Seller/Servicer to complete annual fraud
training?" MQMR sent out, "Yes. Chapter 3201.1 of Freddie Mac's
Single Family Seller/Servicer Guide addresses Fraud Prevention and Detection.
It indicates, in relevant part, that Sellers/Servicers must train employees,
and certain non-employees, who are in a position to notice and report fraud or
suspected fraud at least annually to ensure that these employees are aware of
emerging fraud scenarios. Such individuals must be trained in all applicable
areas of the Seller's/Servicer's mortgage business regarding: (1) Common and
emerging fraud schemes; and (2) Red flags that may signal fraud and the need
for further review. Non-employees who may require fraud prevention and
detection training include, but are not necessarily limited to, contract
underwriters and processors, contract quality control firms, borrower outreach
companies, loss mitigation providers and collection companies. Trainings may be
conducted by the Seller/Servicer or by a qualified third party. Alternatively,
the Guide permits Sellers/Servicers to meet the training requirements by
obtaining annual written verifications from the individuals requiring
training. Verifications must confirm that training has been received from
a third party and meets the requirements of the Guide."
Capital markets news...
Recently Freddie Mac spread the news that it had
transferred $8.4 billion in potential credit losses on nearly $215 billion of
single-family mortgages to private market investors across its four single-family credit risk offerings in 2016. "Since
2013, the company has led the market in credit risk transfer on approximately
$602 billion of single-family mortgages -- providing approximately $25 billion
of loss protection to taxpayers."
Any LO waiting to lock in a rate for a borrower was
disappointed yesterday when U.S. Treasuries and MBS prices declined for the
second-straight session. (The 10-year yield hit 2.496% but closed at 2.46%;
mortgages worsened .250-.375.) The European Central Bank rate decision and accompanying
statement was just what the market expected this morning, but U.S. housing
starts beat economists' estimates and saw an upward revision to the prior
month's data. And the Philly Fed Index of manufacturing activity in
mid-Atlantic states registered a two-year high. If that wasn't enough, initial
jobless claims fell to a 43-year low for the week ending January 14.
For economic news today... there is none. There are a
couple Fed speakers. (It is actually more noteworthy when there are NO Fed
Presidents speaking.) In case you haven't heard today is Inauguration Day when
Donald J. Trump will be sworn in as the 45th President of the United States. We
find the 10-year's yield, as a barometer of the general interest rate
environment, at 2.50% this morning with agency MBS prices worse .125 versus
last night.
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