“Nothing says, ‘I mean business’ than using a shopping cart at the liquor store.” We’re already 10 percent through with 2025, and residential lenders and vendors don’t know whether “meaning business” is spending their time watching Washington DC or trying to help their borrowers. Or both. Trump fired CFPB head Rohit Chopra and appointed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent as Interim Head. Certainly there is this school of thought: Consumer 'watchdog' hounded US businesses, let's shut it down. Bessent's first action was to suspend everything the CFPB is doing. The agency suspended the effective dates for all rules that have yet to go into effect, pause all litigation (they are only allowed to file for continuances), and stop rule-making. They also were told to cease public comment. Meanwhile, yesterday it seemed like every trade group congratulated Scott Turner on his confirmation to serve as HUD Secretary. Ginnie Mae, for example, into which most FHA and VA loans are placed, is a government-owned corporation of the United States Federal Government within the Department of Housing and Urban Development. (Today’s podcast can be found here and this week’s is sponsored by Optimal Blue. OB bridges the primary and secondary mortgage markets to deliver the industry’s only end-to-end capital markets platform, helping lenders maximize profitability and operate efficiently so they can help American borrowers achieve the dream of homeownership. Hear an interview with Experian’s Joy Mina and David Fay on reducing pipeline fallout and improving loan pull-through rate.)

Lender and Broker Services, Products, and Software

With homeowners sitting on roughly $11.2 trillion in tappable equity and first mortgage interest rates holdling steady in the high 6-7% range, will 2025 be the year of home equity? Are you ready to capitalize on this market and help your borrowers leverage their equity? Join FirstClose at the next month's ICE Experience to see first-hand how our cutting-edge technology can give you the competitive edge you need to thrive in 2025. Schedule a meeting with FirstClose or swing by booth 515 to discover how our integration with ICE can help you unlock efficiency and growth in your home equity lending solutions.

FHA underwriting is complex, document-intensive, and often requires significant internal resources… until now. Indecomm announced that its DecisionGenius Now Automates Key Complexities of FHA Underwriting, reducing manual effort, streamlining FHA workflows, and improving efficiency. Powered by AI-driven intelligent document extraction (IDX) technology, intelligent automation, and FHA business rules, DecisionGenius achieves 98-99% accuracy in data verification, streamlining underwriting workflows and flagging discrepancies before they cause delays. Features include Automated Eligibility Verification; Integrated HUD/FHA Lending Rules; and Glass-Box Decisioning for Full Transparency. With DecisionGenius, FHA lenders can scale operations without increasing fixed costs, enhance accuracy, and focus on high-value underwriting decisions. Backed by the Indecomm Promise Warranty, lenders can trust DecisionGenius to deliver reliable, compliant FHA loan decisions. Learn more about DecisionGenius today!

Servicers know that retaining customers has never been more important than it is today. The ICE Servicing Digital solution and mobile app is built to boost customer retention and uncover recapture opportunities, no matter how challenging the housing market. Integrated with the industry-leading MSP® loan servicing system, Servicing Digital offers customers 24/7 self-service capabilities, like making payments and reviewing taxes—and advanced tools for exploring housing wealth. Servicing Digital even offers servicers a way to help customers understand their equity potential right from their smartphone. The app’s new integration with ICE’s property valuation tool allows homeowners to complete a self-guided valuation, so they can get a picture of how much tappable equity they have in their home without a formal application. Read more to see how ICE and Servicing Digital can be your customer retention copilot in a challenging market.

What are Mortgage Servicing Rights (MSRs), and how do these essential assets allow businesses to remain profitable during volatile market conditions? In MCT’s whitepaper, Mortgage Servicing Rights 101, explore how MSRs offer revenue stability, cross-hedging opportunities, and strategic flexibility for lenders in an evolving market. This comprehensive guide covers the advantages and challenges of MSR ownership, including regulatory considerations, valuation methods, and key value drivers. Whether you're new to MSRs or looking to refine your strategies to achieve continuity through a consistent and granular approach to MSR pricing, this whitepaper equips you with the insights needed to maximize profitability in MSR management. Download the whitepaper or join MCT's newsletter for educational content on secondary marketing.

Non-Agency Programs and News

Looking for Non-QM options in Maryland? Newfi Correspondent is continuing to purchase Non-QM loans in Maryland on a non-delegated and delegated basis from sellers licensed in Maryland! This includes the newly released, competitively-price Delegated Plus full & alt doc Non-Agency product suite. Newfi Wholesale is also actively closing it’s full suite of Non-QM and Second Lien products in Maryland. If you’re interested in connecting, reach out to EVP John Wise or 818-391-4131.

Effective for all Best Efforts Commitments taken on or after Thursday, January 30, 2025, an update to Jumbo LLPAs was announced in Pennymac 25-13.

Plaza Home Mortgage® introduced two new programs for your 2025 toolbox: The DCSR Investor Solutions 3 and Solutions Non-QM 3 loan programs. These two additions to Plaza’s Non-QM suite offer expanded pricing options, helping you find the best fit for every loan scenario. View Guidelines and LLPAs for both programs: DSCR Investor Solutions 3 Guidelines, DSCR Investor Solutions 3 LLPAs, Solutions Non-QM 3 Guidelines, and Solutions Non-QM 3 LLPAs.

There’s no use in originating loans if they don’t have an eventual home in a portfolio or being sold in the secondary markets. Redwood Trust is preparing to issue a $548.4 million jumbo mortgage-backed security, and United Wholesale Mortgage is the top contributor to the MBS, accounting for almost 11 percent of the dollar volume.

“Some $4.05 billion of non-agency securities involving home equity loans were issued in the fourth quarter of 2024, down 14.3% from the third quarter,” according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside MBS & ABS. “Closed-end second (CES) liens originated by nonbanks continued to comprise the majority of HEL securitization. CES volume also held up better than the other sectors of the HEL securitization market in the fourth quarter. Securitization of closed-end seconds declined by 2.1 percent to $2.80 billion, while securitization of home equity lines of credit declined by 9.7 percent. Rocket Mortgage remained the largest issuer of HEL securitizations, with $1.14 billion in volume in the fourth quarter. That was down 28.5% from the previous quarter. Even with the slowdown in issuance in the fourth quarter, HEL issuance tripled on an annual basis in 2024 to $16.10 billion.” Thank you, IMF.

Capital Markets

U.S. Treasury bonds had a strong rally on Wednesday, continuing recent gains after President Trump’s unexpected announcement during a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu that the U.S. would take control of the Gaza Strip. The rally gained further traction after weaker-than-expected economic reports from Europe and the U.S. The ISM Services PMI, which measures economic activity in the service sector, came in lower than anticipated, signaling a slowdown in growth. This pushed bond yields to multi-week lows, with 10-year and 30-year yields falling past key technical levels, while the 2-year yield dropped to its lowest point in eight weeks. Investors largely ignored news that the U.S. Treasury will increase the size of upcoming bond auctions, which will raise $125 billion next week.

Today’s economic calendar kicked off with job cuts from Challenger, Gray & Christmas for January. U.S.-based employers announced 49,795 cuts in January, up 28% from the 38,792 announced one month prior. It is down 40% from the 82,307 cuts announced in January 2024. We’ve also received Q4 productivity and unit labor costs and weekly jobless claims (219k versus an estimate of 213k, still very low; continuing claims were 1.886 million). Later today brings some short duration Treasury auctions, Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey, and remarks from a couple of Fed speakers. Ahead of the U.S. calendar, the Bank of England was out with its latest monetary policy decision of a 25 basis points cut to 4.50 percent. We begin the day with Agency MBS prices roughly where they were at the close yesterday, the 2-year yielding 4.20, and the 10-year yielding 4.43 after closing last week at 4.42 percent.