FHFA and GNMA Announce Updated Minimum Financial Eligibility Requirements

FHFA and Ginnie Mae recently jointly announced updated minimum capital, liquidity, and net worth eligibility requirements for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (GSE) seller/servicers and Ginnie Mae issuers, respectively.  The revised requirements have varying effective dates, and go into effect on or after September 30, 2023. 

While developing their own respective standards, FHFA and Ginnie Mae staff jointly met to discuss revising the minimum financial eligibility requirements based, in part, on the lessons learned through the pandemic.  Under the final revised standards, the GSEs and Ginnie Mae will be aligned or largely aligned in connection with many of the requirements, including each of the following: (i) tangible net worth/adjusted net worth; (ii) net worth; (iii) capital ratio/leverage ratio; (iv) base liquidity; and (v) origination liquidity.  For example, seller/servicers and issuers will have a base net worth minimum of $2.5 million plus 25 basis points of GSE servicing, 35 basis points of Ginnie Mae servicing/outstanding obligations, and 25 basis points of private‑label and other servicing.  Seller/servicers and issuers also will be required to maintain a capital ratio of tangible net worth or adjusted net worth (as applicable) to total assets that is greater than or equal to six percent.  

A series of tables summarizing the changes, providing a comparison of the updated GSE and Ginnie Mae requirements, and setting out the applicable effective dates can be found here.