DSNews delivers stories, ideas, links, companies, people, events, and videos impacting the mortgage default servicing industry.
Issue link: http://digital.dsnews.com/i/1496135
MortgagePoint ยป Your Trusted Source for Mortgage Banking and Servicing News 46 April 2023 T H E P O I N T folks from being able to access the market. One of these issues is credit visibility. There are many individuals out there who are ready for homeownership, and fit within our credit standards, but just aren't seen by the main- stream machine. Back in the fall of 2021, we announced our Positive Rental Payment His- tory capability, where we leverage bank ac- count data to see rental payments that people were making to help improve their credit risk assessment during the underwriting process. We uncovered that people were not getting credit for the rental payments they were mak- ing, so we found a way to ingest that data to enhance their risk assessment. In December, we rolled out a cashflow underwriting capability within Desktop Underwriter that's intended to support folks lacking a credit score by evaluating a bor- rower's monthly cash flow over a 12-month period. Again, this is a way to see people who are responsibly managing their money and provide them access where otherwise they wouldn't have had the opportunity. Our Multifamily Team recently engaged with several lenders and borrowers on the multifamily side to encourage them to start reporting rental payments to the credit bureaus. Over 144,000 rental units are par- ticipating, and early data shows that about 7,000 renters have established credit scores as a result. For those who already had a credit score and saw an improvement, there was an average increase of 45 points to their score. Attacking some of these problems dif- ferently allows us to grow the pie, if you will, without subjecting us or the borrower to excess credit risk. We are working on other opportunities to improve equitable access, such as how to reduce closing costs, in partnership with other players in the industry because we know we cannot do this by ourselves. In the mortgage ecosystem, we need everybody to play their part in helping solve this problem, so are looking for partners to align with us in tackling these issues. Q: Can you describe the Treasury Department's Making Home Affordable Program, and the role Fannie Mae plays in that program? Making Home Affordable (MHA) was a government-sponsored housing relief pro- gram established in 2009. It was the Obama Administration's response to the Great Recession and the housing crisis, and it was intended to provide foreclosure alternatives to homeowners impacted by the crisis. MHA was intended to help struggling borrowers be able to modify their loans and avoid foreclosure. It also helped those who were continuing to pay their mortgages, but who were underwater as a result of the drop in home prices to provide a mechanism to refinance their mortgage. Fannie Mae participated in the MHA in two distinct ways. One was as the program administrator for the Treasury Department for the overall MHA Program. We were ad- ministering the Home Affordable Modifica- tion Program (HAMP), which was intended to help borrowers receive a modification and avoid foreclosure. The Treasury program supported not only Fannie Mae loans, but also the broader market, and a lot of private- label security and bank portfolio loans flowed through the Treasury program. The other role was our participation in HAMP and the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP), the refinance program for our borrowers and for the loans within Fannie Mae's portfolio. We served as both a program participant and program adminis- trator for GSE loans. Q: What lies ahead for Fannie Mae? We're certainly excited about our oppor- tunities to facilitate equitable and sustainable housing for both renters and homeowners. We are very focused on making sure that we do that safely and soundly so we can con- tinue to support liquidity in the market, as we continue to support homeowners and their long-term homeownership success. We are always thinking about new ways to solve the problems that are preventing folks from being able to access the market. One of these issues is credit visibility. There are many individuals out there who are ready for homeownership but just aren't seen by the mainstream machine."