Home Equity Lending News

An analysis by Home Equity Lending News of new home-equity RMBS issuances found that credit scores on home-equity products have declined by four points from a year ago, though a quarter-over-quarter improvement was observed. But a year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter improvement was recorded for CLTV ratios during the same period. DTI ratios, meanwhile, were little changed on HELOCs and worse on CES loans. https://lnkd.in/gJPimcWA

Cenlar FSB has been rated for servicing loans included in home-equity residential mortgage-backed securities by Fitch Ratings. The ratings outlook, though, is negative, due to regulatory challenges. https://lnkd.in/gKnKBNi9

Jinjoo Lee writes for The Wall Street Journal that as HELOC rates have fallen from over 10% in December 2023 to 8.6% this month, they are still well above the roughly 6% of 2018 and 2019 and holding back spending on big home improvement projects. The Home Depot CEO Ted Decker said that for the home-improvement industry to grow, rates don’t have to “drop quickly and meaningfully. They just need to stabilize and all the talk of what the Fed is going to do sort of gets out of the national conversation.” https://lnkd.in/gEgyj_cN

Jackie Frommer (Naturman), the president of Figure Technology Solutions Inc., has revealed her departure from the leading non-bank home-equity lender. The disclosure by the home-equity lending icon elicited warm responses from colleagues and company leaders. Figure's Debra Jack said, "Jackie’s had an incredible run helping to build and grow Figure." https://lnkd.in/gqDgUAZy

CES and HELOC servicer ratings for LoanCare have been affirmed by Fitch Ratings as the company continues to broaden its offerings. A reduction was reported in LoanCare’s total servicing portfolio. (subscription) https://lnkd.in/gMdRt7dv

Aggregate loan portfolios at domestic credit unions have risen by less than 3% during the past year, America's Credit Unions reported. But the depositories’ combined HELOC and CES holdings have ballooned by more than 18% during the same period. Still, home-equity assets dipped on a month-over-month basis. https://lnkd.in/gfAKAufU

Former Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mark Calabria was quoted in a prior story by Michele Lerner about Freddie Mac's CES pilot as saying, “If a Trump administration is inaugurated, I would expect them to press pause on all existing pilot programs and then prioritize which ones to review.” But the Competitive Enterprise Institute's John Berlau noted, "There are no guarantees, though, that a Trump administration would cancel the program because there’s division within the Republican party between free market conservatives and populists." Former Fannie Mae executive Tim Rood said, “While this isn’t a huge part of Freddie Mac’s budget, the juice may still be worth the squeeze.” (subscription) https://lnkd.in/guGpEV_c

A CES RMBS being rated by Fitch Ratings contains loans originated by Newrez LLC, PENNYMAC and AmeriSave Mortgage Corporation, among other lenders. A quarter of the loans are secured by California properties, and most are full documentation. (subscription) https://lnkd.in/gB8bHsJY

Reverse mortgages backed mostly by Golden State properties and originated by Finance of America have been securitized. A few of the loans that have defaulted, are in foreclosure, or in bankruptcy. Morningstar DBRS rated the transaction. https://lnkd.in/gkyuhJfN

Quarterly HELOC lending climbed to the highest level since 2022, and full-year production is on track to exceed 2023, according to ATTOM. Fresno, California, experienced the most growth. https://lnkd.in/gkRECQEM