A panel of housing agency leaders talking about new mortgage servicing priorities under the second Trump administration was scheduled to last a full hour. It went about 30 minutes before the moderator conceded that the panelists simply didn’t have a lot to say about those priorities. The truth is, they really don’t know yet.
At the MBA Servicing Conference and Expo 2025, representatives from the USDA, FHA/HUD and Ginnie Mae did share some updates and general hopes that the mortgage industry would continue to provide feedback on programs on the drafting board. Several speakers said they were pleased that the Trump administration says it’s prioritizing affordable housing.
The transition will result in a pause to several servicing policies: amendments to Regulation X by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, as well as a policy at the USDA.
Ingrid Ripley, who heads the single-family housing guaranteed loan program for the USDA, said Trump’s executive orders have resulted in a pause of the amendments to special servicing options and the mortgage recovery advance process (MRA). That final rule was supposed to go into effect on Saturday, Feb. 11.
Jeffrey Little, General Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Housing at FHA, told servicing pros that 18 political appointees joined on day one, and more have followed. Department staff are waiting to see what new HUD Secretary Scott Turner’s agenda will be.
“These are smart, knowledgable people who know housing,” he said of the political appointees who have joined the agency.
Little said the January mortgage letter that extended the FHA loss mitigation waterfall for COVID through 2026 was in place.
Notably absent was a representative from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the staff of which was ordered to stop working this week.
