VA lenders are talking about the “cap” being removed as the Department of Veterans Affairs can now back loans that exceed the conforming loan limit. President Trump signed the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act which allows homebuyers to borrow above the 2019 limit of $484,350 for most counties without any down payment. (The bill revises the VA's home loan guaranty program to adjust loan fee rates and eliminate the limit on guaranty amount that is based on the Freddie Mac conforming loan limit.) Now if only the industry could do something about closing costs in general. The recent closing cost data showed that in 2018 national average closing costs for a single-family property were $5,779 including taxes, and $3,344 excluding taxes. (ClosingCorp cost calculations include lender’s title, owner’s title, appraisals, settlement fees, recording fees, land surveys and transfer tax.)

Lender Services and Products

REMN Wholesale merges its award-winning customer service with stellar technology as it launches The Hub, REMN’s new broker portal. REMN developed The Hub with direct feedback from its top brokers in order to create a tool that lets them easily manage the entire flow of their pipeline. The Hub provides REMN’s broker partners with a central location that allows them to seamlessly request rate locks and extensions, connect with help desk experts, and track loan status all in real time. This is in addition to the industry-leading same-day turn times REMN already provides on new files, along with the continuing educational opportunities it for their partners, free of charge. REMN will be conducting live webinars throughout the summer to help customers simplify their submission process using The Hub. Brokers interested in finding out more can visit www.remnwholesale.com or email remnbrokerportalhelp@remn.com.

Stearns Wholesale Lending would like to welcome back Corey Moore to the Leadership Team! Corey is a consummate industry professional and has held Mortgage Leadership positions with Bank of America, Washington Mutual and PennyMac. Corey is excited to rejoin Stearns and will assume management of the Midwest Division for Stearns Wholesale and Non-Delegated Correspondent Channels. To congratulate or reach out to Corey directly please email him. For information on how Stearns can help you as an Account Executive or a Broker Partner please email wholesaleleadership@stearns.com. 

Mortgage Lenders, are you frustrated by extended appraisal turn times and high appraisal costs? Partner with Accurate Group to quickly transform your mortgage appraisal process.Contact Frank Guarnera to learn how we are helping lenders transform their residential appraisal processes with the latest digital and mobile technologies. Lower costs, faster turn times and happier borrowers are just a step away – contact us today.

Got MOJO™?  If you want to increase your profitability, you need to get some MOJO!  Please join our free webinar and learn more about MIAC’s market-leading Maximized Objective Optimizer™ (MOJO™)!  Lenders will now be able to identify the best possible execution and do it in record time! Come learn why MOJO™ is superior to other hedge advisor models as it computes the optimal way to pool loans, maximizes the use of specified pool pay-ups, and minimizes the jumbo loan hit. MOJO™ also enables users to easily commit pools, auto-create trades, and allocate loans to trades. Learn how to make more money while saving time with MOJO™! For more information contact your MIAC sales executive or join our free webinar Wednesday July 10th at 2pm ET! Here is the link for registration: MOJO registration.

Private Mortgage Insurance News

National MI is excited to announce that NMI Holdings, Inc.(Nasdaq: NMIH), the parent of National Mortgage Insurance Corporation(National MI), announced that Standard & Poor’s Global Ratings has upgraded National MI’s financial strength and issuer credit ratings to “BBB” from “BBB-” and NMIH’s issuer credit rating to “BB” from “BB-.” The outlook on all ratings remains positive and indicates that Standard & Poor’s could again raise its ratings on both National MI and NMI Holdings, Inc. in the next 24 months. 

Policy and Procedure Changes by Lenders

M&T Bank exited the wholesale channel, as of yesterday. All loans must be funded by August 30th, and no unlocked loan estimate requests will be accepted from here on out. (Loans locked prior to June 27 can be processed. Citing the decision as “difficult,” M&T joins other depository banks as not being interested in frolicking in the wholesale play pen.

loanDepot announced that effective 7/1/2019, Lender Paid Compensation (LPC) changes will be available on a 90-day basis. Any time on or after 7/1, you may change your comp plan as long as 90 days has elapsed since the last LPC change was processed.  To make an LPC change, a completed Mortgage Broker Compensation Addendum should be submitted to Client Services at least 1 business day prior to the effective date of the change. The change will be effective on the 1st day of the following month.

In a recent bulletin, Mountain West Financial Wholesale posted 2018 1040 4506-T Tax Transcript Guides.

U.S. Bank Correspondent/HFA posted Guide Update SEL-2019-026 with information pertaining to Correspondent Approved Assistance Programs and its updated Lost Payee Clause. Additionally, OCC Private Flood Insurance information is available in its Seller Guide Update SEL-2019-025.

The Citi-approved version of the CoreLogic Correspondent Validation Program (CCVP) will be retired at the end of September 2019. Citi will continue to review the level of collateral risk in the same manner on each loan submitted for purchase consideration. CoreLogic may reach out to some Citi Correspondent lenders to gather feedback regarding use of this product and potential development of a similar industry tool. 

The Resource Center has been updated to include VA appraisal fee schedule changes for multiple states/products. For instance, Arizona broke out some counties for separate pricing & 1004D fees for the entire state increased to $150.00. California’s Multi-Family (1025) fee increased to $850.00 and 1004D fee increased to $150.00. Hawaii, Illinois and South Dakota have changes across all products. The fee for 1004D increased to $150.00 in North Dakota, Nebraska, Arizona and Tennessee.

As a reminder, AmeriHome requires that flood insurance must be escrowed if the loan is secured by a primary residence or second home located in a mandatory flood zone, regardless of whether any other funds are escrowed unless premiums are paid by a condominium association, homeowners association or other applicable group as a common expense (June 22, 2015, Biggert Waters Joint Final Rule). See Seller Guide Section 5.19.10.6. Escrow/Impounds for Flood Insurance for more information.

AmeriHome clarified Delayed Purchase Fee triggers and calculations as follows: Loans will be subject to a Delayed Purchase Fee if the final condition has not been uploaded and/or Collateral has not been cleared within seven (7) calendar days following the later of: Delivery Due Date, or the (Initial) Pending Conditions Status date. Note: If the uploaded conditions are not acceptable, the Delayed Purchase Fee calculation will continue, based on the initial Pending Conditions Status date. There are no changes to the Delayed Purchase Fee amounts currently published in Seller Guide Section 4.5.13.1. Delayed Purchase Fee Table. The Seller Guide has been updated to clarify the Delayed Purchase Fee calculation.

loanDepot Wholesale/Correspondent’s June 3rd Announcement details information regarding Borrower Paid Compensation (BPC) – New Jersey and Pennsylvania, June Key Dates Calendar, Non-Delegated Correspondent Seller Guide Update and Equity Access Second Mortgage Program.

With a recent system release, AmeriHome’s Correspondent Connect document upload view changed both at the time the loan file is submitted to AmeriHome for review (delivered for purchase), and when documents are uploaded to meet outstanding loan conditions. For both loan submission uploads and loan condition uploads, additional document viewing functionality is available for users utilizing a Google ChromeTM browser. AmeriHome is working with its vendor to provide the additional viewing functionality for other browsers as well.  During the loan submission process (when the loan is first submitted to AmeriHome to be delivered for purchase) the Seller might not be able to view the uploaded documents.

In a recent post, docutech Compliance explains the maximum late fee increase for both Indiana and Oklahoma.

U.S. Bank Home Mortgage issued Reminder B-2019-15 regarding its new Mortgagee Clause.

U.S. Bank Correspondent/HFA posted two Best Practices Bulletin’s for the month of June: Top Quality Findings - Trending Issues and Recent Income Increases - Fraud Review Recommendation.

A while back PRMG rolled out an enhanced loan registration process for PRMG’s Brokers when converting and delivering a loan that was submitted previously as a TBD loan. Once a property has been chosen, the Broker can now complete the property information and purpose of the loan directly in the TPO Portal. Once the information is completed, the Registration Team will be notified to complete loan disclosures and send the file to underwriting. As a reminder TPO connect must be updated within one business day of selecting the property to ensure compliance with all regulations. Information about this new process can be located on PRMG’s Resource Center.

Sun West Mortgage Company, Inc. announced a technology update to the SeeMyLoanStatus, its mortgage processing portal.

LHFS posted the following: Effective with locks on or after 12/1/18, Government Within ReachTM DAP funds will be a 3-year forgivable second mortgage and no longer as “gifted funds". Effective immediately, all Government Within ReachTM programs must be submitted and disclosed as a 3-year forgivable second mortgage. The loans should be ran through AUS as a second mortgage without a required payment. The dollar amount of the assistance will remain the same as the grant.

U.S. Bank Home Mortgage Correspondent issued Bulletin B-2019-10 regarding Delayed Changes to AllRegs Modernization.

Capital Markets

Ginnie Mae recently reinstated loanDepot’s participation in multi-Issuer securities. Read the press release for details.

Don’t forget that AmeriHome Mortgage Sellers who are eligible to execute AOT commitments may assign trades executed with Multi-Bank Securities, Inc.

U.S. Treasuries bounced back down to Wednesday’s opening levels by close yesterday, aided by a strong 7-year note auction and further geopolitical uncertainty surrounding this weekend's G-20 meeting between Presidents Trump and Xi. The South China Morning Post reported that trade negotiators from China and the U.S. have agreed to halt new tariffs and resume negotiations, but Trump economic advisor Larry Kudlow said that there were no preconditions set for this weekend’s meeting and that the White House could impose additional tariffs if they choose. A Wall Street Journal article yesterday morning said that President Xi was planning on giving Trump a list of preconditions for settling the trade dispute, including removing the ban on the sale of U.S. technology to Huawei, deflating risk sentiment.

Investors have been flocking towards safer positions as a result. The 10-year note yield nearly dipped to 2.00 percent again before closing yielding 2.01 percent. The safe-haven positioning was also driven by reports anti-Brexit politicians will try to block a no-deal Brexit by cutting off some government funding next week. Domestically, the third estimate for Q1 GDP was left unchanged at 3.1 percent, as expected, but personal spending growth was revised downward.

Today is June month-end, and the economic calendar just began with personal income and spending for May (+.5%, +.4% respectively); as well as the PCE deflator (+.2%, +1.6% year over year). Later this morning, markets will receive the Chicago Fed PMI for June; final June University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment; and remarks from San Francisco Fed Daly. We begin the morning with Agency MBS prices little changed versus last night’s close and the 10-year yielding 2.02%.

Employment

“If career opportunity were an algebraic formula, the formula would be ‘G + C + I = O.’ That’s ‘Growth + Culture + Innovation = Opportunity.’ Quicken Loans® Mortgage Services is growing faster than any other lender in its space.1 Our ability to innovate new products, processes and services is what sets us apart. We’re looking to add passionate, smart and creative people to the following roles: Account Executive (Detroit) and Credit Underwriter (Detroit). As America’s largest mortgage lender2 serving the needs of brokers, regional banks and credit unions, we want to attract the best and the brightest. Is that you? Are you ready to jump-start your career? Check out our job openings. 1Quicken Loans is the fastest-growing top 10 wholesale mortgage lender based on wholesale mortgage volume reported by Inside Mortgage Finance, Q4 2018. 2Based on Quicken Loans data in comparison to public data records.”

Congrats to Elizabeth Green who has joined LoanLogics as chief collateral officer responsible for the company’s product strategy for collateral assessment solutions.