HELOC, Veteran's, Benchmarking, License Tracking Tools; FHA Changes; Podcast Interview with Fannie's Chief Economists

We find ourselves in the 4th quarter of 2024. October is here! Do you want to beat the rush for buying the Halloween candy that’s most popular in your state? Here’s the list. Skittles are the most popular in Georgia, where Jimmy Carter celebrates his 100th birthday. Topics here at the ACUMA event in Las Vegas include servicing values, longevity, and prepayments. No one knows how long anyone will live, or even, for sure, when a loan will pay off. If you had a crystal ball, which no one does, and an investor knew that mortgage rates were going to go down, why would that investor pay 103 for a loan? Would you pay up for a VA loan, given the refinance characteristics of that program? There is certainly a lot of information exchanged at conferences, and Senior Partner Garth Graham and STRATMOR Senior Advisors Sue Woodard and Brett McCracken share insights today at 11AM PT, 2PM ET, from the recent events attended, discuss upcoming conferences, and give tips on achieving the most value from upcoming conferences. (Today’s podcast is found here and this week’s is sponsored by Candor. Candor’s authentic Expert System AI has powered more than 2 million flawless, hands off underwrites. Every credit risk decision Candor makes is backed by a Warranty, eliminating repurchase worries. Hear an interview with Fannie Mae’s outgoing and incoming chief economists, Doug Duncan and Mark Palim, on their role at Fannie, what drove them into the profession, trials and tribulations of forecasting, and more.)

Lender and Broker Software, Services, and Loan Programs

Operations leaders: Don’t miss this event happening today! Josh Byrom, SVP Technology & Innovation at Prosperity Home Mortgage, LLC will share how Prosperity’s partnership with Truv has streamlined PHM’s verification of income and employment process to reduce time to close and enhance conversion rates. Register here. Free access for Non-MBA Members using code TRUV100.

New Book: Ncontracts’ VP of Compliance Stephanie Lyon and Founder & CEO Michael Berman Publish New Book, The Upside of Compliance. Compliance isn’t just a requirement; it’s a strategic asset for smart financial institutions. This latest book, The Upside of Compliance: Empowering Financial Institutions to Thrive, is your go-to guide to building a compliance program that protects your financial institution while driving growth and success. Drawing from decades of combined experience, authors Stephanie Lyon and Michael Berman share their insights, challenges, and victories, offering readers a roadmap to creating a compliance program that not only protects their institution but also enhances its overall performance. This book is your guide to navigating compliance with confidence. To get your copy, visit The Upside of Compliance by Michael Berman via Ncontracts.

Renewal season is here! Demo the License Tracking solution that automates your company, branch, and mortgage loan originator licensing process. The License Tracking solution solves the lack of plug ‘n play technology for mortgage licensing. This robust and dynamic solution provides dashboards to organize data and deliver reminders on due dates, tasks, and other key data to streamline your licensing processes. A current customer’s feedback highlighted that they were “looking to track and manage license information effectively and efficiently” and that using solution enabled them “to create an environment that is specific to [their] licensing needs.” Leave behind the inefficiency that comes from managing multiple static spreadsheets and use the solution built to easily manage the entire process, all while it seamlessly provides trending, reporting, user-specific access, and automation to keep your licensing on track. Built in partnership with Trinity, schedule a demo here to explore a better way to manage licensing.

Today marks the beginning of Q4, a key planning and budgeting period. If you're less than enthused with your point-of-sale vendor, now’s the time to explore how Floify’s cost-saving features, like no-cost native eSigning, benefit your bottom line. Floify has earned a reputation for its user-friendly interface and easy-to-configure automations that save time. But what you might not know is that Floify is packed with features that offer impressive ROI (with a new one to be announced next week!). Ready to grow with a vendor that puts money back in the bank? Book a demo for MBA Annual and get a Mountain Must Haves Kit on site (including a can of O2). Or if you can’t wait until then, schedule a virtual session with Jason Mapes today.

This spooky season, you don't have to be haunted by the uncertainty of how you measure up against the competition. MMI's Benchmark Report is your ultimate source for transaction insights and performance comparisons across every production tier. Subscribe to MMI's monthly Mortgage Industry Benchmark Report, and you'll be among the first to get your hands on October's edition. Want to know the deal sizes of your LO peers? Eager to learn if your company's production exceeded lender averages? Our report delivers the data-driven insights you need to make informed, winning decisions. Don't get left in the dark. Stay informed. Stay competitive. Sign up today!

Kick off your Q4 by scaling your growth with mortgage-specific reporting and insights. In our competitive and data-driven industry, timely and accurate information is crucial. Maxwell’s comprehensive business intelligence and data reporting solution, Maxwell Business Intelligence, is designed to address the unique challenges faced by lenders, enabling you to streamline operations, enhance decision-making, and boost profitability, especially in a high-interest rate environment. Toss out your expensive data analytics tools that lack mortgage-specific stats and unlock new growth opportunities with actionable, data-driven insights. Schedule a demo of Maxwell Business Intelligence today.

Correspondent and Broker Product News

Boost your deals with Figure’s Piggyback HELOC (Purchase AND Cash-Out Refi!). Rates are dropping and Figure is here to help you capitalize on the market opportunity. With Figure’s new Piggyback HELOC, your clients can finance up to 90% on purchases of their new home while avoiding PMI or using the HELOC to get back into conventional loan sizes. Importantly, you can also offer this HELOC in conjunction with a rate and term refinance to help your existing customers meet their cash needs. A Piggyback HELOC coupled with the rate and term refinances already in your pipeline allows your customers to avoid cash-out LLPAs and go up to 90% LTV to meet their cash needs! Figure’s Piggyback leverages your existing rate and term refinance underwriting to approve the HELOC and close simultaneously. Stay competitive, close more deals, and maximize your earnings. Email Anthony Stratis to learn more about our Piggyback product!

“Since 2017, Gateway Correspondent has proudly partnered & served as the Program Administrator with the Texas Veterans Land Board to offer participating clients access to aid Texas Veterans in purchasing a home through the VLB Veterans Housing Assistance Program (VHAP). This initiative provides Texas Veterans with access to below-market interest rates, helping thousands of Veterans achieve the dream of Homeownership. As The Elected Program Administrator, we have the opportunity and responsibility to review all TVLB originated loans for approval, in this uniquely competitive program for Texas Veterans. Eligible Texas Veterans and Military members are offered a competitive, low-interest rate loan with little to no down payment and Veterans with a service-connected disability rating of 30% or greater qualify for a discounted interest rate up to .50%. What a GREAT opportunity to thank and further serve our veteran community. For more information on the TVLB program and other Gateway offerings, please reach out to CorrSales@GatewayLoan.com, we look forward to partnering with each of our clients who dutifully serve our Veterans through homeownership.”

FHA, USDA, VA, and Non-Agency Changes

FHA posted a draft Mortgagee Letter (ML), Electronic Submission of Section 247 Hawaiian Home Lands Assignment Packages, on its Single Family Housing Drafting Table (Drafting Table) for review and feedback. This draft ML proposes policy revisions that will modernize the submission requirements for Section 247 assignment packages to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) from paper to an electronic format. In this draft ML, HUD proposes policy improvements that streamline the Section 247 assignment process by utilizing FHA’s Asset Disposition and Management System (P260) web-based portal for the digital submission of assignment packages and communication.

FHA completed the implementation of new functionality in the FHA Catalyst: Electronic Appraisal Delivery (EAD) Module that eliminates the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) reliance on its legacy appraisal processing system, the Loan Application Management System. This update lays the foundation for the modernization of FHA’s appraisal data storage, dissemination, and analytical capabilities, consistent with Mortgagee Letter (ML) 2022-19, which is now superseded in full by the Single Family Housing Policy Handbook 4000.1. This FHA Catalyst system update also further synchronized data between the FHA Catalyst: Case Binder Module and FHA Connection, improving data integrity for FHA.

USDA Rural Development posted a Bulletin on September 25, 2024 announcing Interest Rate Decrease for SFH Direct Programs.

Available immediately but required and effective for mortgages with note dates on or after November 8, 2024, view Pennymac Announcement 24-101 for income underwriting and documentation updates for self-employed income and non-arm’s length employment requirements.

Pennymac updated Jumbo LLPAs effective for all Best-Efforts Commitments taken on or after Thursday, September 26, 2024 as listed in Pennymac Announcement 24-103.

Correspondents may use any of the approved vendors referenced in Pennymac Announcement 24-105.

JMAC Lending offers flexible options for First-Time Homebuyers can help you reach more clients and expand your pipeline while helping borrowers get into their first home. Programs include Low-Down Payment Conforming: Waive all Loan-Level Price Adjustments (LLPAs), FHA Loans to 90% with FICOs from 500 - Plus NO FICO FHA, VA Loans with Zero Down and FICOs from 580, and Jumbo Plus to $3.5M.

In support of the recent launch of Citi Correspondent Lending’s Special Purpose Credit Program, 2 additional tools are now available: SPCP Eligibility Scrubs, and a new FAQ that addresses questions commonly asked regarding the SPCP.

American Senior Lending Wholesale Division is now offering Jumbo Reverse Mortgages, its new Proprietary Reverse Product, the Platinum Reverse, comes in three variations:

Maximum LTV Fixed Rate, Adjustable Rate with a Line of Credit, Reduced LTV with a lower Fixed Rate.

Capital Markets

Despite the Middle East bracing for further turmoil after Israel killed top Hezbollah leaders and continued its attacks in Lebanon, traders sent bond yields higher to open the trading week amid lower rate cut bets as Fed officials signal that there’s no hurry to ease. Fed Chair Powell said the Fed will lower rates “over time” toward a more neutral stance while reiterating that policy is not on a preset path and the economy remains on solid footing. Put another way, the Fed is open to another 50-basis points cut in November if the labor market weakens.

The speech essentially summed up the Fed's current policy procedure: all is well, the economy is doing fine, and inflation is coming back down to 2 percent. Rate cuts are necessary and routine maintenance in the wake of a victorious rate-hiking campaign. Interesting, because we learned this past Friday that the Federal Reserve’s preferred gauge of underlying U.S. inflation rose mildly in August, as did consumer spending. What’s an ideal scenario for the Fed? Inflation continues to fall, and both the consumer and the labor market remain resilient. This week, chock full of jobs-related data, could make for some volatile intraday moves as the Federal Reserve has strongly hinted that jobs are now the primary driving force in their rate decisions.

Yes, the week will be dominated by the jobs report on Friday, however we will get ISM data and a lot of Fed speakers. The economy is expected to have added 150,000 jobs in September (inevitably revised lower later), and the unemployment rate is expected to have held steady at 4.2 percent. Today’s economic calendar, this month’s economic calendar, kicks off later this morning with final September S&P Global manufacturing PMI, ISM manufacturing for September, construction spending for August, JOLTS job openings for August, and Dallas Fed Texas services for September. We will also receive remarks from Atlanta Fed President Bostic, Fed Governor Cook, Boston Fed President Collin, and Richmond Fed President Barkin. We begin the day with Agency MBS prices better than last night by .125-.250, the 2-year yielding 3.62, and the 10-year yielding 3.74 after closing yesterday at 3.80 percent. U.S. government bond prices ended September with a historic fifth-straight monthly gain. Despite an increase in bond yields yesterday, the U.S. 10-year Treasury ended the month -11 basis points in September and down 54 basis points overall in the third quarter.