Ginnie Mae to move HMBS initial and final certification into MyGinnieMae; issuers, custodians urged to finish pools before cutover

Ginnie Mae officials demonstrated a new HMBS (Home Equity Conversion Mortgage-Backed Securities) certification module in the MyGinnieMae portal and told issuers and document custodians that GinnieNET will be phased out for HMBS initial and final certification, with a cutover planned for mid–late second quarter.

"GinnieNET will no longer be used for the initial or final certification" for HMBS pools, presenter Wade Gayle said during a webinar demonstration of the MyGinnieMae HMBS workflow.

The move centralizes HMBS pool delivery and certification in MyGinnieMae, which presenters said will provide single sign-on, role‑based access, consolidated screens and visual status indicators (nicknamed "Skittles") that show counts for draft, submitted, issued and certified pools. Gayle said the change aims to reduce context switching and manual steps that users currently face in the legacy GinnieNET application.

Ashley Dunn's recorded demo walked participants through issuer screens for "HMBS Pools and Loans": importing a flat-file pool (the presenters said the import file format will remain the same), running Ginnie Mae business‑rule edits on import, viewing inline error messages (the example showed a duplicate tax ID), editing fields on the pool detail page, re‑validating and submitting pools. Submissions require an RSA token from an authorized signer; successful submissions generate toast messages and portal notifications and change the pool status to "submitted for initial certification." Touhid Ali clarified that an "Edit" button opens inline fields on the pool detail page for corrections.

The presenters also showed the final‑certification flow: issuers may select issued pools, click an "Initiate Final Certification" button, enter an RSA token and place pools into a "final certification draft" status; custodians receive the submitted request and then may certify or decline from their own new HMBS view.

On Q&A, Wade Gayle told an attendee that the import/export file "should remain the same" so custodians and issuers can reuse existing files. He also said Phase 1 of the rollout covers only initial and final certification; recertification and some high‑volume import workflows are planned for Phase 2. Gayle and Touhid demonstrated the ability to perform bulk operations: users can select multiple pools and submit or certify them in a single action.

Participants pressed presenters on cutoff timing and operational risk. Vicky Marajh offered an example to illustrate the risk: "If we say the cutoff date is May 6th, which is a Wednesday, then all pools must be submitted and certified on May 5th by 9 pm. If it's not certified by 9 pm, then the Issuer would lose the file from their system, and they would need to recreate it when HMBS moves to MGM," she said, describing the practical consequence if final cutover timing overlaps settlement schedules. Presenters said Ginnie Mae is still working the exact cutoff schedule and that the migration is targeted for mid–late second quarter; they advised users to finish any in‑flight HMBS pools before the deployment.

Additional custodian notes in the demo: custodians will see Skittles widgets, may filter and paginate large lists of pools, open pool detail and loan pages to review data, generate HUD forms (such as form 11705, 11706 and 11711B) and perform certify/decline actions. Presenters reiterated that non‑HMBS pool types (single‑family or multifamily) remain in GinnieNET until later migration phases.

The session closed with a request to submit webinar feedback and with contact information for follow-up questions: askGinnieMae@HUD.gov.

What this means for issuers and custodians

- Prepare to complete any HMBS pools expected to cross the cutover window; presenters warned that pools not certified before the GinnieNET cutoff may need to be recreated in MyGinnieMae. - Expect the same flat import file format for Phase 1 (initial and final certification); high‑volume recertification support will follow in Phase 2. - Authorized signers will continue to use an RSA token to submit and certify pools; the new portal supports bulk submission and bulk certification.

The officials emphasized that some details — including the final cutover date — are still being finalized and encouraged participants to use the provided support contact for operational questions.