Ginnie Mae

Aggregate numbers for coronavirus-related payment suspensions are showing more consistency as organizations clarify how they handle them, and some consumers' incentives to use them may be declining.

Total forbearance driven by the coronavirus rose by 25 basis points, which suggests it is still growing but at a slowing pace, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Ginnie Mae is offering temporary relief related to its acceptable delinquency-rate threshold in response to issuers' need to fulfill the forbearance requirements in the coronavirus rescue package.

The total coronavirus-related mortgages in forbearance grew by 55 basis points, in lockstep with rising unemployment claims, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Surging unemployment from COVID-19 shutdowns brought a rapidly rising tide of forbearance requests, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Federal backing for firms facing a deluge of missed mortgage payments is still on the table despite recent comments by an official who questioned the need to help the industry.

The volume of COVID-19 forbearance requests has risen rapidly as operational processing has improved and hold times have contracted, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Tenants have threatened to suspend payments during the pandemic to pressure officials into providing rental assistance, but the effects on multifamily loans would compound concerns about servicers' liquidity and, ultimately, lenders' performance.

Ginnie Mae will begin taking requests for assistance from issuers who, having exhausted all other options, are having trouble advancing borrowers' principal-and-interest payments to investors amid the pandemic.

Mark Calabria needs to be working to secure a Fed facility for servicer advances and to support, not denigrate, smaller servicers, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

The share of borrowers seeking payment relief rose more than tenfold as COVID-19 concerns grew and authorities encouraged the practice, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Ginnie Mae and the FHA provided temporary liquidity relief for mortgage servicers bracing for higher delinquencies, but the industry continues to pressure Treasury and the Fed to provide more comprehensive support.

With economists fearing high unemployment stemming from the pandemic, the housing finance system is grappling with how it will recoup lost revenue from delinquencies, forbearance plans and other tremors.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency plans to increase liquidity standards for nonbank conforming loan servicers, and at the same time raise the net worth requirements for those that also perform the function for Ginnie Mae.

Nationstar’s next securitization of defaulted or inactive home equity conversion mortgages will have a higher-than-average exposure to properties with steep leverage, as well as ties to judicial foreclosure states.

The dollar volume of mortgages guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs rose nearly 9% in the past fiscal year as interest-rate reduction refinancing loans surged nearly 75%.

Eric Blankenstein, who resigned from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in May after the discovery of his racially charged writings, was named acting executive vice president of Ginnie Mae.

Ginnie Mae is looking for input on its proposed guidelines for electronic promissory notes and other mortgage documents that it plans to test through a digital collateral pilot.

The Treasury Department made clear in a much-anticipated report that it prefers Congress take up reform of the government-sponsored enterprises, but it also recommended steps that federal agencies could take without legislation.

Ginnie Mae followed through with plans to look more closely at secured debt ratios in its latest round of new and revised issuer requirements.