The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued a memo for all participants in Ginnie Mae programs on January 16. The memo states that under the Hope for Homeowners Program (H4H) lenders may offer borrowers mortgages with 30- to 40-year terms and that “in order for an H4H mortgage to qualify for inclusion in a Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed security, the mortgage must be for a term of either 30 or 40 years.” The memo also sets forth that for securities with issue dates of February 1 or later, Ginnie Mae will allow lenders to pool 40-year H4H mortgages into new 40-year Multiple Issuer Pool “M FS” pools. The new M FS pools are “subject to the same edits and requirements as the 30-year M FS pool type”.  

http://www.ginniemae.gov/apm/apm_pdf/09-02.pdf