Time passes by, and we have one week until the first total solar eclipse crossing the US from coast to coast since 1918. Football fans know that the start of the season is fast approaching. There were 786 touchdown passes in the NFL last season, and 785 of them were thrown from right arms. (The one lefty to complete a touchdown pass in 2016 was Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant on a trick play.) What happened to the lefties? Could traditional credit scores go the same way?  SALT is a lending program that makes credit scores unnecessary." Bitcoins, blockchain, and cryptocurrency... truly revenge of the nerds.

FHA, VA, USDA, and Ginnie Mae News

Earlier this month Wells Fargo agreed to pay $108 million to settle a whistleblower lawsuit that claimed it charged military veterans fees to refinance their mortgages and then hid the fees when it applied for federal loan guarantees from the Department of Veterans Affairs. It is unclear how much, if any, of the money went to borrowers.

The issuance of Ginnie Mae's platinum securities is completely automated and can be processed using the MyGinnieMae portal. Previously, processing of the Platinum product was entirely manual. Moving the platinum submission and pooling process to the Portal will automate the following functions: Submission of Deposit Agreement and Confirmation: Pool Number, Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures (CUSIP) Limited Purpose Account (LPA) in MyGinnieMae Portal. Security CUSIP load to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY); automated integration into Mainframe and Trust Receipt Generation in MyGinnieMae Portal.

Chase Correspondent has discontinued its FHA 10 Year Fixed product line(s).

FHA's Good Neighbor Next Door Program? It's a special program operating under the auspices of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that is aimed at specific HUD-identified areas. This program allows law enforcement officers, pre-K through 12th grade teachers, firefighters and emergency medical techs buy homes offered for sale by HUD at greatly reduced prices. Those eligible are then to buy one of these homes at half the listed price.

USDA no longer provides a list of ineligible repair items. The Handbook now states that eligible repairs may be determined by the lender, provided the home is habitable. Lenders are reacting. For example, to assist with interpretation of the "habitable", Pacific Union underwriters will review the repairs included in the Escrow Holdback agreement for health and safety factors and recommend that items related to roof repairs, foundation repairs, repairs to the home's basic structure, and electric, plumbing and heating fuels systems be well documented at the time of submission for appropriate consideration by the underwriter.

To improve the services to FHA borrowers with credit scores below 640, specialized analysis is necessary to accommodate more home buyers in this end of the credit spectrum. As a result, Sun West has created a set of Comprehensive Credit Review Guidelines to assist in the substantive review of these borrowers.

All Ginnie Mae MBS WEEKLY disclosure files were removed on 7/14/2017. As a reminder, the MBS Pool Daily New Issuance file, "daily.txt", is published each Tuesday through Saturday per the Data Release Schedule and is cumulative throughout the month. For questions related to this bulletin, please send an email to investorinquiries@hud.gov. Inquiries to this email will be addressed within 2 business days.

Ginnie Mae issued a reminder of August MBS Multifamily loan level new issuance disclosure files.

In late June Ginnie Mae has updated "U.S. AND JAPAN TO COLLABORATE ON AGING IN PLACE: Bilateral research effort to identify new ways to house vulnerable seniors".

Pacific Union is creating more opportunities for clients to participate in its Non-Delegated Correspondent offering. Effective immediately, conventional products can be delivered to the non-delegated channel from clients who are also approved to deliver conventional products via the delegated channel. Clients can determine which conventional loans are best underwritten by Pacific Union or via their internal underwriting staff. Additionally, Pacific Union will no longer require clients to limit their non-delegated government deliveries by FICO band. Clients approved to deliver government products to the non-delegated channel can choose which loans are best underwritten by Pacific Union and deliver those to the non-delegated channel for underwriting.

Bank Trends, M&A

Global banking regulators (the Basel Committee) said they have postponed their next meeting to discuss global capital rules until Oct, with any potential changes unlikely until 2024 or 2025.

American Banker reports as much as $2.5T in bank deposit growth since the crisis, or about 50% of the total, could be attributable to Fed quantitative easing. That could reverse back out as the Fed continues to raise rates and acts to reduce its $4.5T balance sheet.

The mergers and acquisitions announced during August has not seen any letting up, and consolidation occurs in other ways. For example, Bank of America said in its most recent quarterly earnings report that its total number of financial centers shrank about 3% YOY to 4,542 vs. 4,681 as of the same quarter last year.

In Florida CenterState Banks, Inc. has agreed to acquire HCBF Holding Company, Inc. In Virginia, Atlantic Bay Mortgage Group will acquire Virginia Community Bank ($238mm) in a 100% stock deal. First Financial Bank ($8.5B, OH) will acquire MainSource Bank ($4.0B, IN) for about $1.0B in stock (100%) or about 2.72x tangible book. Valley National Bank ($23.2B, NJ) will acquire USAmeriBank ($4.4B, FL) for about $816mm in stock (100%) or about 2.38x tangible book. In Indiana First Savings Bank ($838mm) will acquire The First National Bank of Odon ($99mm) for about $10.6mm in cash or about 1.32x tangible book. The Bank of Delmarva ($519mm, MD) will acquire Liberty Bell Bank ($150mm, NJ) for about $16.0mm in cash (30%) and stock (70%) or about 1.62x tangible book. In Pennsylvania Advantage Bank will acquire First National Bank of Lilly ($21mm) for 1x tangible book in cash (50%) and stock (50%). Advantage is a new bank set up to acquire other banks.

TBK Bank ($2.6B, TX) will acquire Valley Bank & Trust ($321mm, CO). In Washington Heritage Bank ($3.9B) will acquire Puget Sound Bank ($567mm) for about $126.1mm in stock (100%) or about 2.4x tangible book. People's Intermountain Bank ($1.7B, UT) will acquire 7 branches from Banner Bank ($9.9B, WA) for an estimated $15.3mm deposit premium. People's gets $260mm in loans and $180mm in deposits with the transaction. In Maryland Community Bank of the Chesapeake ($1.4B) will acquire County First Bank ($234mm) for approximately $34.3mm in cash (3%) and stock (97%) or about 1.33x tangible book. Out in California Bank of Marin ($2.1B) will acquire Bank of Napa ($246mm) for about $51.0mm in stock (100%) or 1.87x tangible book. Providence Bank ($299mm, NC) will acquire Cornerstone Bank ($107mm, NC) for about $11.2mm in cash (100%). And in Connecticut Patriot Bank ($775mm) will acquire Prime Bank ($75mm) for 1.15x tangible book in cash (100%).

Capital Markets

What is a "green bond?" Fannie Mae is planning to sell up to two more of them soon, backed by payments on mortgages on energy-efficient apartment loans. Among other initiatives Fannie has made a big push into multi-family mortgages with an environmental twist and has been busy educating its lenders to their benefits. And it isn't small potatoes: the latest is a $873 million bond, called FNA 2017-M10, is backed by 20 seven-year loans originated under Fannie's Green financing business.

Looking at the bond market, rates were helped, as one might expect, by the turmoil involving North Korea and the United States. This heightened sense of geopolitical caution helped bonds, including those backed by mortgages, start on a higher note Friday while a cooler than expected July CPI and core CPI invited more buying interest, particularly in shorter-dated issues. Still, the 10-yr yield finished at its lowest level (2.19%) since late June while the 2-yr yield slid to levels from late May.

But it's brand-spankin' new week around the world, including Japan where it is the peak travel season for Obon (a Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the spirits of one's ancestors). There is no scheduled news today. Tomorrow is Retail Sales, Import & Export prices, Empire Manufacturing from New York, and August's NAHB Housing Market Index from the builders. Wednesday, we can look forward to weekly mortgage apps from the MBA for last week, July Housing Starts & Building Permits, and July FOMC Minutes in the afternoon. Thursday, we hardly stand the suspense waiting for Weekly Initial Jobless Claims, August Philadelphia Fed, July Industrial Production & Capacity Utilization, and Leading Economic Indicators. Friday doesn't have much scheduled aside from a collection of University of Michigan stats about what their team is seeing in the economy.

The week starts with the risk-free U.S. 10-year yielding 2.22% and agency MBS prices are worse .125 versus Friday's closing levels.

Jobs and Products

U.S. Bank Home Mortgage is looking for a Mortgage Product Management Lead to partner with the executive team and drive expansions and refinements to the company's broad suite of mortgage products across its retail, correspondent, and wholesale lending channels.  This is an excellent opportunity for a strategic capital markets and credit leader to drive meaningful change at a top 10 Bank lender ($56b in 2016) with a long-term commitment to the mortgage business, an innovative, customer-focused transformation agenda, and a collaborative and ethical culture. Please check out the full job description and apply here.

With a culture of recognizing and developing talent from within, WesLend Financial is pleased to announce the promotion of Bryan Levy to Northeast Area Sales Manager. Bryan has a wealth of experience in all areas of loan origination stemming from over twenty-five years in the industry and is now in charge of growing the Northeast territory for the company. For eighteen years, WesLend Financial has specialized in offering a strong product mix including Conventional, Jumbo, FHA (also High Balance FHA loans with FICO scores down to 580), VA, USDA, Reverse Mortgage, and Non-QM products. Expanding rapidly, WesLend is actively seeking experienced wholesale Account Executives nationwide and offers extensive training, aggressive compensation plans and seasoned support from the operations and marketing teams. If you are currently sharing a territory and are seeking a wider footprint, then WesLend Financial has a unique opportunity for you to be a leader in the market! Please contact Thomas Michel (949-681-5254); all inquiries will be strictly confidential.

Offering retail, wholesale, and correspondent, Pacific Union Financial is eager to continue the successful growth of the Southern California region with new Regional Vice President, Tom Jarboe. Tom brings an extensive background in retail sales and managing large sales teams. With his knowledge, leadership skills, and tenacity to succeed, he is sure to help take the Pacific Union Southern California team to new heights. Tom has called Southern California home for more than two decades and is eager to help build the region. If you are interested in joining the growing Pacific Union Southern California region, contact Tom. 

What is a subservicing trifecta? It's when your Subservicer lowers your delinquency rates, increases your revenue, and gives you complete transparency into what they are doing all while using revolutionary servicing technology. The Money Source Subservicing is proud to bring this trifecta to life for the mortgage industry! To learn how you can benefit from the unique TMS approach to Subservicing, click here

Paul Clifford of Simplifile writes: "Last week, Mortgage Professional America unveiled its 2017 Elite Women in Mortgage, and we are proud to recognize Simplifile's own Vicki DiPasquale, vice president of sales and a thirty-year veteran of the title industry, among those honored. It is rare to see a sales executive honored at such a high level, yet I can think of no one more deserving of recognition than Vicki, whose consultative approach to sales is guided by a sincere passion for sharing her substantial expertise and educating those who stand to benefit most from emerging technologies. Her efforts have had a transformative effect not only on Simplifile's growth and success but on the evolution of the industries we serve."