Ginnie Mae punished his firm. Now, Trump may put him in charge.

September 17, 2019, 3:41 p.m. EDT 2 Min Read

A mortgage industry executive with ties to a firm penalized in a U.S. predatory lending crackdown is being considered by the Trump administration to run Ginnie Mae, a government corporation that backs $2 trillion in home-loan securities, according to people familiar with the matter.

Joseph Murin, who previously headed Ginnie Mae for about 13 months under Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush, is among candidates the White House is looking at to fill the post, said the people, who requested anonymity because the discussions haven't been made public. Others have been considered for the job leading the mortgage guarantor and it's not clear when a decision will be announced, the people said.

Joseph Murin, former president of Ginnie Mae — Joseph J. Murin, chairman, The Collingwood Group, speaks during the Bloomberg Link Insurance Portfolio Strategies conference in New York, U.S., on Wednesday, March 2, 2011. Insurers, which held about $23 trillion in assets globally at the end of 2009, are facing pressure on their investment results as low interest rates hurt returns and as planned new rules for the industry make equity and real-estate investments less attractive. Photographer: Stephen Yang/Bloomberg *** Local Caption *** Joseph J. Murin

Murin, 70, is currently chairman emeritus of NewDay USA, one of the firms Ginnie Mae restricted last year from bonds backing Department of Veterans Affairs loans amid concerns over so-called churning, the practice of repeatedly pressuring borrowers into unnecessary refinancing. The sanctions kept firms from issuing Ginnie Mae bonds mingled with loans from other lenders, a step that made them likely to get worse prices from investors.

The sanctions against New Day have since been lifted.

NewDay, in a statement issued to Bloomberg, said it never engaged in loan churning, and that Ginnie’s concerns have been addressed and fixed.

“To be clear, NewDay USA has never been accused of predatory lending,” NewDay Executive Chairman Rear Admiral Thomas C. Lynch said in the statement. “We do not repeatedly refinance borrowers. Some veterans were refinanced once to lower their rate, and no lender fees were charged for them to do so. We’ve never harmed any veteran nor churned loans, and never will.”

The temporary suspensions of NewDay and others followed a probe in which Ginnie Mae said it found the companies had been pushing veterans into refinancing repeatedly, which can drive up borrowers' debt while generating fees for lenders.

Murin's industry ties extend beyond NewDay. After serving as Ginnie Mae president from 2008 to 2009, Murin co-founded the Collingwood Group, a Washington-based firm that advises firms facing legal action from the Federal Housing Administration. The firm's clients have included Wells Fargo & Co. and U.S. Bancorp. Brian Montgomery, President Trump's pick to lead the FHA, is also a co-founder of Collingwood Group.

Murin didn't immediately respond to multiple attempts to reach him by phone, email and through his LinkedIn account. The White House and NewDay declined to comment.

Ginnie Mae has been run on an interim basis since January by Maren Kasper, a former Housing and Urban Development official who has also spent time in the private sector.

Bloomberg News