Ginnie Mae announces buyout policy changes to support HAMP

Ginnie Mae has announced its support of the Federal Housing Administration's (FHA’s) Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), which is being implemented pursuant to the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009, enacted on May 20, 2009. The FHA/HAMP initiative is designed to provide additional loss mitigation strategies for FHA-insured loans. Issuers will be permitted to repurchase FHA loans from Ginnie Mae pools if a borrower has been approved to participate in FHA’s trial modification program and the loan has been in a state of continuous default for more than 90 days, as of the date of repurchase. Until the loan has been removed from the pool, Issuers are reminded of their continued obligation to advance scheduled remittances of principal and interest to investors, as required by the security. Updates to the Ginnie Mae Mortgage-Backed Securities Guide are now available under the “What’s New” section of the Ginnie Mae Web site, at www.ginniemae.gov and have been incorporated in the Guide at Section 18-3.