Joseph J. Murin of Collier has been nominated to head the Government National Mortgage Association, one of the nation’s major secondary mortgage agencies. Murin, 58, a native of Bradenville in Westmoreland County, was selected at a time when the Washington-based company’s role might become more important as it manages mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration. Congress is considering making affordable FHA-insured loans more widely available in an effort that officials believe will help ease the national credit crisis that has cut deeply into the housing market and caused worries about the U.S. economy. The association that Murin will head, commonly known as Ginnie Mae, is a wholly owned government corporation. “When I got the call several months ago from the White House that I was among those being considered for the job, I was not only surprised but honored,” said Murin, who lives in the Nevillewood development. Murin is a 36-year financial services industry veteran and former CEO of Lender’s Service, a major mortgage settlement services company in Moon. He learned several weeks ago he was the choice when U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson phoned him. The next step is an appearance before the Senate Finance Committee, whose members will interview him before his name is sent to the full Senate. No date for that appearance has been set. Murin said he and his wife, Angela, plan to maintain their home here, where he has spent much of his business career. “In the role of Ginnie Mae president, I will be doing a lot of traveling, meeting with both domestic and foreign investors in government-backed or sponsored mortgages, so we decided to remain in Pittsburgh,” he said. The corporation does not buy or sell loans or issue mortgage-backed securities. What it does is guarantee investors the timely payment of principal and interest on those securities, backed by federally insured or guaranteed loans. In addition to the FHA, Ginnie Mae deals in the secondary mortgage market with loans guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Changes in the FHA being considered include eliminating the statutory 3 percent minimum cash down payment, and increasing loan limits. “It’s hard to say what eventually is going to come out of this, but there is an opportunity for FHA to be used as a standard mortgage product once again as it used to be years ago,” Murin said. Murin began his career as a loan officer with Pittsburgh National Bank (now PNC Financial Services Group) in the early 1970s. From there, he honed his expertise in the mortgage banking industry while working in Florida in the 1980s. He returned to the region in 1992 when Prudential Home Mortgage Co. Inc. appointed him executive vice president of Lender’s Service. He joined LSI in 1992 and led the mortgage settlement services company’s leveraged buyout from Merrill Lynch in 1996. Murin was named CEO in 1998 and remained with the company until 2001. Two years after Murin left, Lender’s Service was purchased by Jacksonville, Fla.-based Fidelity National Financial Inc. The company, still in Moon, is known as LSI Fidelity. Murin headed Basis100, a technology company based in Toronto, until 2004 and later organized Mortgage Settlement Network in Robinson, which he sold in August.

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