The Community Home Lenders of America , sent a letter to Sen. Patrick Leahy, D.-Vermont, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Sen. Richard Shelby, R.-Alabama, asking them to include $6.6 million in funding for the FHA Catalyst Information Technology initiative in the FY 2023 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies appropriations conference report.

Community lenders might be able to transition to a new provider, but doing so requires an investment in time that could be hard on them financially.

Scott Olson, executive director of the Community Home Lenders of America, called for a more flexible PTAP that small and mid-sized issuers could access in more normal circumstances, not just during a national economic crisis.

Responding to a request for comment, CHLA Executive Director Scott Olson this week said that since writing to the DOJ, CHLA has “heard from multiple small and mid-sized independent mortgage banks about the risks this merger could pose for consumers, both with respect to pricing and tying concerns that could be created by such an increase in market concentration.”

The Community Home Lenders Association wrote a letter to Ginnie, renewing its request that the government bond insurer “exempt small and mid-sized independent mortgage banks” from this aspect of updated counterparty criteria released recently in conjunction with the Federal Housing Finance Agency.