Refi Activity Results in Monthly Record for Ginnie; PMI's Unbothered by MIP Cut

Share Register Advertise March 01, 2021 The Mortgage Train Keeps Rolling: Refis Push Ginnie to New Monthly Record in January jbancroft@imfpubs.com So far, there’s no quit in government-insured refinance lending. A new Inside FHA/VA Lending analysis of Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities data shows a 4.3% monthly gain in the flow of refinance loans in January. Refis were the reason Ginnie MBS issuance rose to a new monthly record of $76.93 billion in January. That figure is based on truncated loan-level disclosures and doesn’t include FHA reverse mortgages or multifamily loans. Refinances accounted for 55.4% of Ginnie volume last month. Purchase-mortgage business was down 2.2% from December, while there was a 16.8% spurt in securitization of modified government-insured loans. For full details and exclusive tables, see the new edition of Inside FHA/VA Lending, now available online. PMIs Losing Sleep Over a Possible MIP Cut? Doesn’t Look That Way mvolkova@imfpubs.com   Private mortgage insurers’ financial results for 2020 showed strong gains, with record new insurance written. But what some industry watchers were really looking for in the results was commentary on the impact of a potential reduction in FHA mortgage insurance premiums. Surprise: Most of the private MIs downplayed any future impact a cut would have on the private MI sector. Claudia Merkle, CEO of National MI, said FHA and MI businesses operate on different points of the risk spectrum and, therefore, a cut in MIP will not result in massive ramifications for the MI industry. “This bifurcation of the market where certain borrowers are best served by the private market and others by the public market, that’s growing even more since COVID with the further shift in the quality,” Merkle said during National’s recent fourth-quarter earnings call. “If an FHA cut were to come through, we expect that the significant majority of the borrowers we serve today will continue to find [that they are best served] in the private market.” For more on the story, see Inside FHA/VA Lending, now available online. Holding Steady: Debt Issuance by Mortgage Companies pmuolo@imfpubs.com Although the window for initial public offerings of stock by mortgage firms appears to have closed — at least for now — nonbanks over the past few weeks have continued to roll out sizeable debt offerings to a willing investor base. Top-ranked lenders and servicers tapping the capital markets (mostly through private placements) include PennyMac Financial Services, Home Point Capital and Ocwen Financial. Of the group, it might be argued that PennyMac’s $650 million offering of senior notes was the most successful. Not only was the top-ranked lender/servicer able to up the deal size from $500 million, but its cost to borrow came in at 4.25% per year. The paper matures in 2029. According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Westlake Village, CA-based shop will use the proceeds for “general corporate purposes,” including the repayment of warehouse lines of credit. For the full story, see the new edition of Inside MBS & ABS, now available online. NAMIC Likely to Continue Disparate- Impact Challenge mvolkova@imfpubs.com   The National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies believes the disparate-impact rule under the Fair Housing Act shouldn’t apply to the insurance sector, and its stance hasn’t wavered in almost a decade. Neil Alldredge, senior vice president of corporate affairs at NAMIC, said state laws regulating unfair discriminatory practices by insurers have been around for years and are preferential in the industry since there is a “very common understanding of what they mean and how they are applied.” The industry group was able to use this argument to successfully challenge the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 2013 rule on the use of disparate impact to prove allegations of discrimination with regards to homeowner’s insurance. However, in 2015, the Supreme Court upheld the use of disparate impact under the Fair Housing Act in Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. the Inclusive Communities Project. For more on the story, see Inside FHA/VA Lending, now available online. Short Takes: The Latest Forbearance Tally / The Risk of High Delinquencies / Bank Hires Wholesale Sales Manager for Non-QM / Wells Defections bivey@imfpubs.com, pmuolo@imfpubs.com The number of mortgages in “active” forbearance rose for the second week in a row to a count of 21,000 units, according to figures released late last week by Black Knight Financial. The period ending date is Feb. 23. The forbearance count is now above 2.7 million loans. A new tally from the Mortgage Bankers Association comes out Monday afternoon… From industry consultant Joe Garrett: “The cost of servicing a delinquent loan is a big multiple of the cost of servicing a performing loan, so here’s the question: Why would you want to retain servicing in a state with really high delinquencies?” Short (partial) answer: because residential loans carry mortgage insurance…    The House passed a $1.9 trillion stimulus bill Feb. 27 on a 219-212 vote with no support from Republicans. There are few provisions directly related to the mortgage market in H.R.1319 though the bill does include $10 billion in funding for a homeowner assistance fund. The Senate is expected to pass companion legislation within two weeks. MORTGAGE PEOPLE: Quontic hired Craig Schimelman as vice president and national wholesale sales manager. He is tasked with increasing the bank’s originations of non-qualified mortgages through the wholesale channel. Previously, Schimelman was vice president of wholesale production at Athas Capital Group. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Three Wells Fargo employees that were involved in originations of jumbo mortgages have jumped ship. Trading platform Maxex hired Maloch Spivey, who was previously senior vice president of correspondent lending at Wells, and Steven Valladares, who was vice president of national lender development at the bank. Brian Scott Cohen, a jumbo loan originator, moved from Wells to Guaranteed Rate Affinity.   ISO Mortgage Contacts? If you’re looking to connect with people in the mortgage industry, turn to IMF’s Mortgage Directory. This easy-to-use interactive database allows you to connect with leaders (with such job titles as CEO, president, chief lending officer, and VP, EVP and SVP of lending, mortgage operations and retail banking) at more than 11,000 lending entities — from small community banks with just one branch to nationwide players with thousands of locations. You’ll find more than 15,000 listings for key mortgage personnel — and with filters by lender size and type, originations and headquarters state, lending volume and lending type, you can easily whittle these larger numbers down to manageable groups that perfectly fit your research needs. To ensure delivery to your inbox, add news@imfpubs.com to your address book or safe sender list. Home | Update Your Account | Mortgage Data | User Agreement | Unsubscribe © Copyright 2020 Inside Mortgage Finance Publications 7910 Woodmont Ave., Suite 1000, Bethesda, MD 20814 Tel: (301) 951-1240; Fax: (301) 656-1709

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