Ginnie Pooling, Credit and Broker Products; Wholesale News

For readers who deny climate change is real, natural or manmade, sinking cities around the world (including Houston and New Orleans) can be attributed to groundwater issues (public and private wells pulling water out of aquafers), another long-term trend that lenders could worry about, or at least be aware of. But one thing that lenders are not worried about are rates – they’re darned good, and recessions usually push them even lower. Seventy-four percent of American business economists “appear sufficiently concerned about the risks of some of President Trump’s economic policies that they expect a recession in the U.S. by the end of 2021.” President Trump, for his part, said, “I don’t think we’re having a recession. We’re doing tremendously well. Our consumers are rich. I gave a tremendous tax cut and they’re loaded up with money.” If a recession is defined by two quarters of negative growth, he’s correct. I just hope it doesn’t become a self-fulfilling prophesy since the financial press seems consumed by prospect of a future U.S. downturn.

Lender Products and Services

For 30 years, Stearns Wholesale has empowered brokers with tools to work smarter, more efficiently and close more loans. The powerful tool SNAP 2.0 allows brokers to easily calculate borrowers’ income by inputting a few docs into the Calculate My Income Tool. SNAP 2.0 can also generate a Day 1 Certainty eligible VOI report in 15 seconds on pre-app files or full registrations.Stearns Wholesale Lending is poised for growth and prepared to serve the Mortgage Broker for another 30 years! If you’re interested in partnering with a lender that combines the power of people and technology please reach out to Wholesaleleadership@stearns.com.

One warehouse lending organization gets noticed in the marketplace for doing things the right way. ResX Warehouse Lending is a division of Connecticut-based United Bank, a respected commercial lender with a long track record of building long-term relationships with its clients. They’re not new to the warehouse lending business, but if you haven’t heard the name yet, it’s only because they’re not promoting themselves with every new trend or fad to hit the market.  These are serious experts looking to build relationships with clients like you who are focused on sustainable growth…one relationship at a time. ResX Warehouse’s clients rave about the lender’s proactive approach. And that expertise is provided by seasoned, top-level professionals. Customers also love their commitment to delivering more effective and efficient processes. Combined with United Bank’s full-service array of products and resources, ResX is the ideal platform for the correspondent focused on real growth. Learn More.

Attention credit unions! Now is the time to optimize your doc prep strategy, and IDS is here to help. As the Gold Sponsor for the upcoming ACUMA Annual Conference in National Harbor, MD, IDS will be on-site and ready to help credit unions of all shapes and sizes develop a digital mortgage plan that enables them to compete in today’s mortgage market. After all, the idsDoc platform was born inside of a credit union, giving IDS a unique perspective on the challenges credit unions face in delivering mortgage products and services to their members. To meet up at ACUMA Annual, contact Matthew Mackey. Can’t make the conference? Don’t worry! Watch our free on-demand eClosing webinar to uncover strategies for optimizing your digital mortgage plan, and check out the summer issue of ACUMA Pipeline, which features an article from IDS’s Clint Salisbury examining how credit unions can begin to implement eClosings in their organizations to improve member service. 

Can you believe it’s almost September? Some lenders are still struggling to meet their bottom line before the end of the year (which is in 4 months!). But there’s still time to talk to an expert at Informative Research to help 1) decrease your upfront credit spend by at least 40%, 2) avoid getting your leads poached by competitors, and 3) reduce your non-recoverable fees. This coming month, Informative Research’s VP of Client Success Gerald Dorman will be on-site at both the New England MBA Conference and the Northeast Conference of Mortgage Brokers and Professionals. Click here to schedule a quick 15-minute meeting with Gerald so you can start talking through a realistic, customized strategy that could potentially save you up to 50% on your overall annual spend.

Correspondent and Wholesaler News

Stearns Lending Wholesale announced a new FLEX Non-QM product series. Flex Investor, Flex 24, Flex 36, and Flex 48 brokers can now offer a variety of options with No Ratio Programs, Bank Statement qualification, 1-year income documentation and Expanded Ratios up to 55%. 

Wells Fargo Funding has updated its policy to allow front-end ratios greater than 36% when adequate compensating factors are present and the decisioning logic is explained in the Loan notes. Examples of compensating factors include, but are not limited to, the following: High increased earning potential, Significant disposable income (e.g., $20,000 per month), Limited payment shock (e.g., less than two times greater than current payment), History of managing a similar amount of debt and No layered risk.

Plaza Home Mortgage is offering improved pricing for all renovation programs, effective immediately, including FHA 203(k), Plaza’s VA Renovation and HomeStyle®.

Plaza’s Preferred Jumbo program guidelines have been updated to address bonus income used for down payment and closing costs. Refer to Plaza’s Preferred Jumbo guidelines for details.

loanDepot Wholesale has options: 1) Have it generate and e-disclose the LE and Federal Disclosures on your behalf; or 2) Generate a loanDepot Wholesale LE from our Portal to pair it with your Disclosure Package; or 3) Generate your Disclosure Package and LE. Close your loans faster and choose the Disclosure option that is right for you and your Borrowers by utilizing one of the three different fast paths.

Mountain West Financial Wholesale issued a reminder. On June 1st, the BOLT mobile app will no longer be supported. The app will not be available for new downloads and previously downloaded versions will no longer access loan files. BOLT and the LOS provider are refocusing their development efforts toward future enhancements, including greater mobile flexibility that will provide more useful and robust features.

ditech Correspondent posted information regarding VA transactions as follows: For IRRRLs, a COE is now required (previously a COE was not required). For all loans, if the COE does not show that the Veteran is exempt from paying the funding fee, the lender must ask the Veteran if he or she has a claim for compensation pending with VA. If yes, the lender must obtain an updated COE no earlier than 3 days before the loan closing using the COE "Correct" function in WebLGY.

AmeriHome Mortgage now has viewing functionality for both loan submission (delivered for purchase) uploads and loan condition uploads are now available for additional browsers, including Google Chrome.

Capital Markets

Do you have a GNMA ticket but may not be fully taking advantage of all the advantages of pooling in the current environment? Vice Capital Markets continues to maximize our clients’ execution by structuring all types of custom pools and getting executions up to 400, 500 and even sometimes 600bp above the screens. Custom pool structures are optimized to generate the highest possible net cash flow and servicing value. Through our extensive dealer relationships and very active trade desk we are able to identify payup trends and track all of the custom payups to maximize your execution and add immediate cash value to your bottom line. If you are not fully taking advantage of all the different types of custom pools start a conversation with Troy Baars today.

Speaking of execution, Fannie’s trading desk reminded everyone to use Fannie Mae's Flash MBS® “to receive book-entry delivery as soon as 4 days after we receive your Loan Delivery submission. Or, select Fannie Majors and receive book-entry delivery on Fannie Mae’s published Majors as soon as 3 days after we receive your submission. Both options provide additional business days for pooling, up to 2 days for Flash MBS and up to 3 days for Fannie Majors, compared to the standard pool processing option. Plus, there are no processing fees.”

Turning to the bond markets, and therefore rates, the US-China trade ware continues to be the main force moving markets after China announced the imposition of tariffs on $75 billion of US goods, eliciting a strong reaction from President Trump which drove equity markets lower. Mortgage rates, however, continue to slowly trickle downward despite greater volatility in other markets. While the move may be smaller than some would like, it has led to a pickup in refinance applications, as every lender knows. Existing home sales rose 2.5% to an annual pace of 5.42 million in July and June’s numbers were revised higher. Still, even with lower interest rates, affordability remains the largest obstacle to more robust home sales as demand remains strongest around the median home price of $280,800. Home builders will need to pivot towards more entry-level construction to meet the market demand.

U.S. Treasuries dropped to fresh lows on Tuesday as the yield curve inverted further, including the 10-year closing at 1.49 percent, after an official from China's Ministry of Finance denied that Chinese and U.S. trade negotiators spoke over the phone in recent days. The People's Bank of China, meanwhile, fixed the yuan at another eleven-year low against the dollar. Not much of note influenced markets aside from that, and it seems to be a sprint to Labor Day Weekend and the unofficial end of summer, though former NY Fed President Dudley wrote a column for Bloomberg calling on the Fed to refrain from lowering rates in response to the escalating conflict with China.

Today is another snoozer of a day, with the usual mortgage applications from the MBA (for the week ending August 23 down over 6%). The MBA’s Joel Kan observed, “Uncertainty over the near-term economic outlook and low supply continue to be the predominant headwinds for prospective homebuyers.” We’ll have some Fed speak from Richmond’s Barkin and San Francisco’s Daly. We begin the day with agency MBS prices little changed and the 10-year yielding 1.46%.

Employment, Personnel Moves, Corporate Restructuring

An Orange County, CA, lender is looking for a Loan Officer for its Portfolio Retention Department. This is a six-figure opportunity! Loan Officers work directly with leads from Lender’s Servicing Portfolio. If you’ve yet to work with Portfolio Retention borrowers then you’re missing out on hundreds of hot leads every day. Qualified candidates should have recent call center experience, a valid CA NMLS license, 2+ years of Loan Officer experience, and a positive, self-motivated attitude. To apply for this huge earning opportunity, submit resumes confidentially to Anjelica Nixt for forwarding.

Nashville lender Rick Trew has been named VP/market manager of Bell Bank Mortgage as the company expands into Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina. Bell’s mortgage division is backed by the financial strength of Bell Bank, one of the nation’s largest independently owned banks, with more than $6 billion in assets and 1,300 employees. Trew will be responsible for recruiting mortgage lenders, developing brand awareness and building business in the Nashville and greater North and South Carolina markets. Prior to Bell, Trew held national management positions with a few well-known banks and mortgage companies in the Southeast. And Orlando lender Jeffrey Skelin has been named VP/market manager of Bell Bank Mortgage where he will lead the mortgage giant’s move into the Florida market. Skelin will be responsible for recruiting mortgage lenders, developing brand awareness and building business in the state. With an MBA from Case Western Reserve University, Skelin has more than 20 years of experience in the mortgage field, leading sales and operations teams at various community and national banks. 

Academy Mortgage is excited to announce that James Mac Pherson has been named the company’s CEO. Mac Pherson had been serving as Academy’s President since 2016. Prior to joining the Leadership Team, Mac Pherson led a successful career as a Regional, Divisional, and Producing Area Manager; Branch Manager; and Loan Officer in St. George, Utah, where he firmly established Academy with 20% market share. Mac Pherson has promoted Kristi Pickering to Academy’s A+ Executive Leadership Team in the role of Chief Operations Officer. Pickering is a well-respected industry veteran with more than 25 years of experience. Former CEO Adam Kessler has stepped into a new role as the company’s Chairman of the Board. Kessler appointed Mike Jensen, who was serving as EVP of Marketing & Corporate Development, to serve on the board as well. In these roles, Kessler and Jensen will join Mac Pherson in driving Academy’s strategic growth initiatives and maintaining the company’s 31-year history of strength and stability. 

Crescent Mortgage added Skip Willcox as an AE for Georgia and South Carolina accounts. “Georgia and South Carolina are Crescent’s home markets. We were very fortunate to be able to find someone with Skip’s experience and reputation to continue what has always been one of our primary lending markets”, said Bob Shellenberger, SVFP of Wholesale and Correspondent Lending.