Hedging, Verification, Servicing, QC, Reverse Products; Road to Housing Bill Status

Lots of folks were leaving the MBA’s National Secondary yesterday, and many comments and questions were heard. “Did you hear that Jerry Seinfeld is doing a show at the MBA National in October?” (True) “Ginnie Mae began ratcheting up its cybersecurity efforts in 2024. Why aren’t others?” (Good question; I’m sure they are at some level.) “Most lenders are selling loans to the Agencies through their ‘cash windows’ on a whole loan basis rather than through MBS execution.” (True; Freddie and Fannie have increased gfees, so when capital markets staff are seeking every basis point in price, they are nudged toward the window.) During the day, FICO announced that the next generation UltraFICO Score, a “brand new scoring model that combines the trusted FICO Score with real-time, consumer-permissioned cash flow data built through a partnership between FICO and Plaid, is available for lender use… it examines how money actually moves through a consumer's everyday accounts, including cash inflows and outflows, account balance stability, and spending behavior.” (Today’s podcast can be found here and this week’s ‘casts are sponsored by TransUnion. Discover how data-driven mortgage intelligence is helping lenders identify in-market borrowers, strengthen portfolio performance, personalize outreach, retain customers, and drive smarter growth in an increasingly competitive housing market. Today’s has an interview with TransUnion’s Satyan Merchant on the accelerating shift toward mortgage credit score competition, exploring how lenders should adapt to increasing model choice, evolving credit report innovation, operational complexity, alternative data, and the growing role of dynamic credit insights across the full mortgage lifecycle.)