Ginnie Mae is pulling the plug on its long-running Targeted Lending Initiative because it is no longer having an impact on overall lending in underserved urban and rural areas. TLI volume has seen more decline than uptick in recent years despite its offer of a Ginnie Mae guaranty fee reduction to encourage lenders to make more loans in underserved communities, according to an agency spokesperson. Reducing the Ginnie Mae guaranty fee lowers lenders’ expenses and, ideally, provides an incentive to increase lending. In 2005, Ginnie Mae extended the TLI to areas hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina, reducing the guaranty fee by as much as 50 percent to spur issuers to originate or purchase mortgage loans in areas where the hurricane inflicted the most damage. At one point, the program had more than 10,000 census tracts that were identified as targeted areas. Other TLI areas included those ...