IT and Sales Management; Operations, Forbearance Products; Training Webinars; Women Leaving Workforce
Yes, here we are at the 10th month of the year. You know, “Dec” ember. Oh, this is “Oct” ober. There’s a reason. The numerical names of months date back to the time when in the Ancient Rome the year began in March, so September was really the 7th month, October the 8th, and so on. January became the first month in 45 BC when Julius Cesar reformed the calendar introducing what is now known as Julian calendar. (See, and you claim that you never learn anything from this commentary!) Looking at the entire year, to date, there is no possible way that someone could have predicted 2020, from the impact that the virus has had on world economies to the loss of a Supreme Court Justice to the President becoming ill. Even the “Silence of the Lambs” house is up for bid! It will take years for U.S. jobs and GDP to recover: good for rates, not good for credit quality. The latest victim? VW Group is will take a long, hard look at its portfolio, may decide to put Lamborghini, Bugatti, and Ducati divisions up for sale, and has “temporarily” ceased production of its latest Bugatti Chiron model.
Lender and Broker Services and Products
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to generate operational chaos with more delinquencies and new forbearance requests. While the overall percentage of GSE mortgages in forbearance has steadily decreased, Ginnie Mae's share is increasing as FHA and VA borrowers struggle to cover household expenses resulting from income reduction, savings depletion, and job loss. These newer relief requests compound the record number of serious delinquencies already driven by forbearances. Mortgage servicers must be ready to assist large numbers of distressed borrowers when relief requests spike again. Read the latest blog from CLARIFIRE® to see how delivering timely, automated relief can help servicers reduce the risk of placing borrowers in further jeopardy of delinquency or losing their homes. CLARIFIRE® can help servicers prepare for the next wave of forbearances with a smart, results-oriented loss mitigation decisioning engine and workflows. Let us show you how to future-proof your organization with , Truly BRIGHTER AUTOMATION®.
Easily find your next vendor on Vendor Surf, showcasing the most innovative solutions and recognized brands. Searchers can 'Find 'em Fast,' in real-time via specific filters… Nothing else like it. Not another static ‘directory.’ A quarter million page views, with over half of our traffic coming from Google. Even they recognize us as the ‘Vendor Authority.’ The premier destination for decision makers at lenders and credit unions, intelligently connecting to desired vendor partners. There's more! See the industry’s most complete calendar of events, webinars, podcasts and training… Usually over 400 items. We post yours for FREE. Send them to Scott@VendorSurf.com.
“Mortgage lenders today are all trying to find the right resources to maximize the opportunity of today’s rate environment. At Sutherland, we partner with our clients to create operational flexibility, scale, and process expertise.Our global reach as an experienced Business Process Transformation company enables us to reduce costs while aligning the right mortgage specific resources that are experienced in Processing, Underwriting, Closing and Quality Control support. Whether you are looking to close more loans or increase your quality assurance scale, Sutherland is here to achieve your goals. To schedule a discovery call on our capabilities, email Neil Armstrong, AMP.”
ActiveComply: Tired of having to rely on LOs for permissions to monitor social media profiles? Are you saying NO to social media because you don’t know the rules or feel protected? ActiveComply can bring you no-headache solutions to be regulatory compliant on social media. ActiveComply helps lenders meet responsibilities through our compliance system technology: automatically find all company and LO accounts related to your brand, examine profiles for NMLS IDs & Equal Housing logos or verbiage, and ensure posts are compliant (image scanning included).
Company-Sponsored Webinars
To help lenders stay up to speed on winning comp strategies while toeing the compliance line, LBA Ware is hosting Incentive Compensation for LOs and Ops: Your Top 10 Compliance Questions Answered this Thursday, October 8, at 1PM ET. Featuring renowned mortgage compliance attorney Loretta Salzano, the free webinar will answer questions like, “Can LOA pay be deducted from LO comp?” and, “What regulations apply to operations incentive comp?”. Register now to save your spot.
Join us on October 22nd for our informational webinar “Don't Be Another Corporate Social Media Horror Story” with The Mortgage Collaborative. In this series, we will discuss the social media lending landscape, outline lender requirements, and review some social media Do’s & Don’ts. Bonus: we will hear about some industry horror stories and how you can learn from them vicariously. Sign-up today or contact Melissa@activecomply.com!
XINNIX is currently taking registrations for two exciting events in the month of October. Leaders, reserve your seat for “Building the Next Generation of Mortgage Professionals”: a free live executive roundtable event happening this Wednesday, October 7 at 1 PM ET. XINNIX Founder & CEO, Casey Cunningham, sits down with Regions Bank EVP of Lending, Bob Cabrera, HomeBridge Financial Services EVP & Partner, Rick Floyd, and Caliber Home Loans AVP Program Director and Head of Caliber University, Lauren Havins: executives who have already engaged in a strategic approach to building their own talent. Also, Casey Cunningham and New American Funding President, Patty Arvielo, are back by popular demand for another live women’s event: “Breakthrough: Ignite Your Network.” The Breakthrough Co-Founders will speak to the women of our industry about networking, branding, defining success and more. Register today!
Capital Markets
“Rob, I’m just getting back into the biz after having been gone many years. Is there an easy answer as to the difference between Ginnie I and Ginnie II securities? ‘Way back when’ Ginnie II securities were illiquid and usually odd lots of loans.” Sure thing. Ginnie Mae I MBS are modified pass-through mortgage-backed securities on which registered holders receive separate principal and interest payments on each of their certificates. Ginnie Mae I securities can include single family, multifamily, manufactured home, and project construction loans. Ginnie Mae II MBS, on the other hand, holders receive an aggregate principal and interest payment from a central paying agent. An Issuer may participate in the Ginnie Mae II MBS either by issuing custom, single-Issuer pools or through participation in the issuance of multiple-Issuer pools, which combine loans with similar characteristics.
Last week saw the release of a disappointing labor report, with employers bringing back just 661,000 jobs in September, down from 1.5 million in August and 4.8 million added in June. Many job losses are becoming permanent, including 700,000 people who left the labor force in the month of September. All told, the suffering nationwide is still significant and far-reaching across the economy, with only half of the 22 million jobs lost in March and April back. Besides many job losses becoming permanent, September also saw a brutal and expected trend rear its head: in that month alone, 865,000 women over age 20 dropped out of the workforce, compared with 216,000 men over age 20 who did the same. September, which would normally constitute a return to school, instead saw many working parents hit a breaking point as the United States’ uncontrolled pandemic forced school-from-home.
While housing motors on, the U.S. labor market has problems: Slowing recovery, recent layoff announcements at many household-name companies as economic activity remains well below pre-coronavirus levels in across many industries. With the services sector being the largest part of the economy and many of those services requiring personal interaction, their outlook remains pegged to the trajectory of the virus and prospects of a vaccine. As fiscal stimulus dries up, it remains to be seen if households relying on aid will further reduce spending and if that will spill over into the broader economy. Despite the expiration of benefits, consumer confidence hit a six-month high in September as consumers became more optimistic about the short-term outlook. Consumer spending is the largest component of GDP and as the consumer goes, so does the US economy. As businesses and consumers continue to adapt to the current environment demand and staffing will adjust and we’ll reach a new equilibrium. In the meantime, mortgage rates are well supported by the Fed and are expected to remain near historic lows for the near-term.
Much of the rest of the world was in or near recession before COVID and will take longer to recover. Lepre writes, “This is not a typical recession. This is an episodic problem not a systemic one. The S&L Crisis, the Asian Currency Crisis, and even the subprime lending crises were simple compared to this. We have no experience as to how to provide economic recovery from this. Multiple layers of bureaucracy and government regulations will make recover take longer.”
But yesterday there was optimism! How does that sound? The bond market yesterday reacted to several stories. The ISM Non-Manufacturing Index for September increased further into expansionary territory from August and beyond expectations to match the reading in February, reflecting faster growth in the services sector. There was also talk that stimulus negotiations were making progress, though I would remind you that there is no sign the two sides are close to a deal, and even if they agree, it would likely take two weeks to draft the bill and pass the legislation.
Additionally, President Trump's relatively quick progress in recovering from the coronavirus was good for both some of the uncertainty in recent investor sentiment and an encouraging development in the fight against the coronavirus. If that doesn’t make progressives feel exactly warm and fuzzy, recent polling data has Biden so far in the lead that it’s engendered a belief that the election won't be contested. By the end of the day, Treasuries pulled back several bps in curve-steepening fashion and the MBS basis closed tighter, led by equities and commodities in rally mode.
Today’s economic calendar began with the August trade deficit ($67.1 billion, a drag on U.S. growth). Later this morning brings Redbook same store sales for the week ending October 3, JOLTS job openings for August, a $52 billion 3-year note auction, and four Fed speakers, including Chair Powell. Today’s MBS Desk purchase schedule contains three operations totaling up to $5.273 billion MBS starting with $892 million UMBS15 1.5% and 2% followed by $2.9 billion UMBS30 2% and 2.5% and $1.5 billion GNII 2.0% and 2.5%. We begin today with Agency MBS prices worse/down a few ticks from Monday’s close and the 10-year yielding .79 after closing yesterday at 0.76 percent.
Employment
Digital mortgage platform Maxwell is continuing its tremendous growth and looking for an experienced VP of Mortgage Operations to help lead and grow its outsourced fulfillment services team in the Maxwell Fulfillment Platform. The Fulfillment Platform is rapidly expanding and looking for a talented and experienced operations leader to build its culture, manage the operational results, and invest in our team and our customer relationships. Additionally, Maxwell is hiring for several Mortgage Operations Directors who will work daily with the operational teams supporting the processing, underwriting, and closing of Maxwell’s clients. All interested parties, please apply here or send an email to Sydney Artt with your desired position in the title.
For the first time, Home Point Financial has appointed a Chief People Officer (Kristin Supancich) who brings 25 years of experience in human resources and talent development. Home Point has already added more than 1,100 Associates so far in 2020 and is in extreme growth mode. With this critical hire, it’s evident that Home Point is committed to a people-first growth strategy by placing its associates first. Home Point’s hiring goals continue to be some of the most aggressive in the industry, adding top talent from around the country. If you want to be part of a company that offers competitive pay, prioritizes work-life balance, and has a leadership team that is committed to your long-term employment and professional growth, apply for a position on Home Point’s careers page, or email your resume directly to Max Schurig.
Are you someone who knows the value of an ever-growing, ever-evolving technological ecosystem? Then you belong at Wyndham Capital Mortgage, the leading Fintech Mortgage Lender. Wyndham Capital has spent years investing and growing its technology-driven processes and is ready to continue its role as an innovating and groundbreaking organization. To drive this next step, we are currently hiring for an SVP of Technology, responsible for leading WCM's technological vision, driving the strategic direction and ensuring our resources are consistently providing the best support possible to our business plans and strategies. From continuing to integrate digitally driven solutions into various business areas to leading and managing the teams responsible for the day-to-day technology infrastructure, this person is a key piece of the puzzle in our success. Be a part of something great. Learn more about the role, and submit an application here.
“Gateway Mortgage, a division of Gateway First Bank, is green and growing! We are a values-based organization dedicated to strengthening families and communities. We are looking for team players who have a get it done attitude with a focus on doing the right thing and making a difference. We are growing and have immediate openings for underwriters, closers, processors, and purchase auditors in our Tulsa and Dallas offices. Remote options are available. Gateway offers excellent full benefits, including a 401K match, bonus program, $600 premium discount with wellness check, virtual doctor visits, and more! Gateway is a leading financial institution that provides banking and mortgage services for consumers and commercial customers. Headquartered in Jenks, Oklahoma, Gateway is one of the largest banking and mortgage operations in the United States with six bank branches in Oklahoma, 160 mortgage centers in 41 states, and almost 1,500 employees. Click here for more information.”