How the agencies are handling pending servicing policies

A trio of mortgage officials weighed in on servicing policy matters at an industry conference on Wednesday, addressing concerns raised by recent transitions in Washington.

Concerns agency officials addressed included the status of new loss mitigation procedures for Federal Housing Administration-insured loans. The Department of Housing and Urban Development had finalized a new policy in this area just before the inauguration in January.

Under the policy, temporary streamlining measures from the pandemic were extended until the new permanent procedures could take effect next year. But President Trump's recent executive order and pending agency leadership transitions suggest nothing is set in stone.

At the time of the meeting on Wednesday afternoon, the policy looked like it would remain as written, but that "doesn't mean it won't be changed," said Jeffrey Little, general deputy assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The Senate confirmation that paves the way for new HUD Secretary Scott Turner and his staff to get to work on such issues will help provide more definitive answers to such questions, Little said.

The MBA has praised some aspects of the new FHA loss mitigation procedures, but President and CEO Bob Broeksmit said in a separate post-election analysis session that he would like to see new limited English proficiency requirements rethought.

Panelists urged attendees to continue submitting proposals and ideas for improvement.

"We do appreciate the engagement and hope that continues," said Stephanie Schrader,  a senior policy advisor at Ginnie Mae. Ginnie is a government corporation within HUD that guarantees securitizations of loans that other agencies like USDA and FHA back.

Schrader confirmed Ginnie is reviewing a few proposals, including the MBA's, for how to reduce nonbank challenges around its policies for early buyouts of loans from securitized pools, she said.

She could not immediately address the direction Ginnie's policy might take.

The panel discussion also addressed changes to special servicing options at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Housing Service, which were finalized last year and slated to go into effect later this month.

Ingrid Ripley, executive director for the USDA single-family housing loan program, indicated that the shifts in Washington could affect this, with the general guidance being to follow policy in place but prepare for future shifts with new leaders.

(The Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry gave unanimous approval to President Trump's pick for Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins, on Monday.)

Moving on from policy matters, Ripley said one big challenge her agency has been facing is a shortage of funding for technology resources that could be helpful in implementing changes.

Little said that cybersecurity and the availability of insurance to borrowers are critical risks that keep him up at night

Their concerns mirrored those voiced by mortgage professionals tney work with at the conference.

"Cybersecurity is just enormously important," said David Schneider, CEO and president of subservicer Cenlar FSB, speaking on a separate panel of servicing executives at the meeting.

Insurability is a growing risk that's difficult to identify within a portfolio, said Courtney Thompson, executive vice president and head of servicing at CMG Financial.

Insurance availability will be a prominent concern arising from the Los Angeles wildfires, said Cade Thompson, co-president at Rocktop Technologies, who was attending the conference to market a joint-venture product for managing loans post-disaster.

He doesn't foresee that particular disaster immediately affecting the overall market based on the damage it caused, but thinks it could potentially hurt some individual players who are financially vulnerable and have a lot of exposure to the region.

"I think it will have an impact, but it will depend on how concentrated the damage is with any one investor," Thompson said.

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