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MortgagePoint » Your Trusted Source for Mortgage Banking and Servicing News 34 July 2025 T E H E X C H A N G E Q: From Fannie Mae's perspective, what are the most significant barriers prospective homebuyers face today—particularly first-time buyers—and how are you working to address them? Evans: Affordability is a big hurdle for prospective homebuyers, especially first- time homebuyers. It's a complex issue driven by many factors like home price appreciation, interest rates, lack of sup- ply, inflation, and the pace of household income growth. Unfortunately, these factors are largely outside of Fannie Mae's control. That's why we're focused on homeownership barriers we can influence, working in partnership with the primary market. Based on our research, two factors that fall in this category are credit invis- ibility and insufficient funds to close. There are many people who fit in our existing credit box and are ready to be homeowners, but traditional under- writing processes and credit bureau data don't tell us their full story. There are also plenty of consumers who have a good credit history and the means to handle monthly mortgage payments, M alloy Evans is Fannie Mae's EVP and Head of Single-Fam- ily, reporting to the President and Chief Executive Officer. He leads the company's Single-Family business division, including the teams responsible for providing consistent and reliable liquidity to the single-family mortgage market, facilitat- ing access to affordable homeownership, and managing the risk of the company's $3.6 trillion mortgage loan portfolio. Evans has served in various roles during his tenure at Fannie Mae, most recently as SVP and Single-Family Chief Credit Officer, where he was responsible for first-line credit risk management from mort- gage acquisition through disposition. He has also held other lead- ership roles overseeing risks across the Single-Family mortgage life cycle, as well as the company's administration of the Treasury Depart- ment's Making Home Affordable (MHA) program. He has a Bachelor of Science in chemistry from Davidson College and a Juris Doctor from Washington and Lee University School of Law. The Exchange but they just don't have enough savings for down payments and closing costs. Fannie Mae is focused on providing con- sistent and reliable liquidity to the mar- ket and delivering tools and services that address these barriers in a safe, sound, and sustainable way. We are constantly developing and refining services that make homeownership more accessible. Q: How is Fannie Mae innovating to make the mortgage process more accessible and more efficient for borrowers? Evans: Innovation plays a critical role in helping lenders make more loans and enabling a more efficient origination process, especially as customer and market needs change. At Fannie Mae, that means supporting as much of the conventional market as we can within our risk appetite. We are focused on developing solutions that break down barriers to access and set borrowers up for success. Tackling credit invisibility is a great example of this. We've introduced a number of innovative products, tools, and enhancements to help us see and approve more potential borrowers who are ready to purchase a home and maintain a mortgage but historically have been overlooked. Solutions like positive rent payment history and cash flow underwriting, and enhancements to our assessment of potential borrowers with limited or no credit histories, have expanded our ability to serve credit- worthy homebuyers who weren't visible before. We also innovate to improve how processes work in both the primary and secondary markets, with a focus on delivering differentiated value to our business partners. Teams across Fannie Mae are committed to helping our cus- tomers take full advantage of the many capabilities we offer, enabling them to strengthen their risk management and improve their business outcomes. Fannie Mae itself was born as an Malloy Evans EVP and Head of Single- Family Business, Fannie Mae