Ginnie Mae recently highlighted its assistance program to help its Mortgage Backed Security (MBS) issuers affected by Hurricane Harvey.
“We’ll work with our partners to ensure we get through this together,” Michael Bright, Ginnie Mae executive vice president, chief operating officer and acting president, said in a press release. “Any Ginnie Mae Issuer in need of assistance should contact us as soon as possible so we can guide them through this difficult period.”
Assistance is available for any Ginnie Mae issuer with more than 5 percent of its loan portfolio in the disaster area. Upon approval, assistance is offered in three forms:
- Aiding issuers in covering their advance obligations while forbearing from declaring them in default;
- Deleting affected loans from calculations of delinquency ratios; and
- Authorizing Issuers to purchase affected loans from the related pools.
To ensure problems are identified as quickly as possible, Ginnie Mae stated that it is proactively communicating with its issuers to identify any Issuer in need of assistance. As the storm passes and recovery begins, Ginnie Mae will be ready to help any Issuer impacted by the storm, thereby continuing to ensure the safety and soundness of the Ginnie Mae MBS Program.
Additional details on Ginnie Mae Special Assistance Programs can be found in Chapter 34 of the Ginnie Mae MBS Guide.