To give its customers more loan options, Freedom Mortgage Corp., a national, full-service mortgage banker with retail, wholesale, correspondent and commercial origination and servicing operations, has teamed up with National Mortgage Insurance Corp. (National MI), a subsidiary of NMI Holdings Inc.
As per a press release, the partnership will enable Freedom Mortgage to expand lending capacity for loans with higher loan-to-value (LTV) ratios. Private mortgage insurance is typically required on mortgages with LTV ratios of greater than 80%.Â
‘We're very pleased to be an approved mortgage insurance provider for Freedom Mortgage,’ says Bradley Shuster, president and CEO of National MI. ‘With the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) reducing its role in the mortgage market, we believe today's lenders are looking for new private-capital alternatives to help qualify more borrowers and to close loans quickly. We're happy that Freedom, a large national and quickly-growing lender, is choosing to work with National MI.’
Now that the FHA is decreasing the role it plays in providing mortgage insurance to borrowers, as was expected due to the housing recovery, new private mortgage insurance companies such as National MI are moving in to meet the requirement for mortgage insurance. Also helping to drive the trend is the shift from a refinancing to purchase market.
‘We expect that the role of private mortgage insurance will grow as purchase loans continue to gain market share relative to refinances,’ Shuster said.